Ranma's Punishment or is it?
by HiroshiCoyote
Summary: Happosai has become furious with Ranma for destroying his most prized darling. So, he punishes him by taking away the two things Ranma loved the most his manhood and... or is it even a punishment at all? Ranma-chanXRyoga but it's a little more than just that... Please R&R
1. Don't Anger the Master

Ranma's Punishment or is it?

Chapter 1: Don't Anger the Master

 **A/N: This is my first fanfiction, and I have no clue if anyone of you will enjoy it. I have a few more chapters written as well, and I will post them once I read through them more. I read over this one probably over ten times before I felt that it was ready. If there are any grammar or spelling mistakes I deeply apologize. Also, I am not Japanese I am American, so if I got some of the Japanese sayings wrong or if I used them wrong I also apologize. The only knowledge I have of Japanese is from watching Anime's and reading other people's fanfiction. I took a lot of inspiration from a lot of works on this site like Genma's Daughter (ClassicalGal), Ranma's boyfriend/Ryoga's girlfriend/Nodoka's son (DaisukiFox), Tabula Rasa (Rivyn Daniel), and many, many more.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma** ½ **in any way shape or form, and I am not trying to use this to make any money. Ranma** ½ **is owned by Rumiko Takahashi and not by me.**

* * *

The sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly. The air outside was cold though with it being near the end of Winter, and that made the Tendo home that much more warm and inviting. It was a quiet and uneventful day at the Tendo Residence. Tendo Kasumi and Saotome Nodoka had already started to prepare the sandwiches for Lunch and were starting to make plans for what they were going to make for dinner.

Nabiki was in here room counting a large number of earnings from her latest extortionist act of selling photos of the so-called Pig-Tailed Goddess and Tendo Akane to one Tatewaki Kuno. Soun and Genma were sitting at the Shogi board with intense focus. Not that they were focusing on the game itself. They were just trying to find ways to distract each other and cheat. Akane was in her room trying to study but was also calming down her anger from one of Ranma's fiancées glomping on him. That was when she sent Ranma sailing into the sky. ' _Serves the pervert right for letting Shampoo do that again!_ ' Akane thought to herself.

"Sometimes I wish he could have been that girl that I met when he first arrived, shy, smiling, fun, and didn't seem to want anything to do with any fiancées." Akane mumbled to herself as she continued studying.

Happosai was in his room sorting through his sweet darlings as he so called them ironing, straitening, and categorizing through them all. This was probably the happiest the old Master had ever been. ' _What a haul this last trip was the best one of the century! This calls for a celebration! I think I might just bring out my most prized possession_ ' Happosai thought to himself.

Happosai Jumped to the corner of his dark and dust-filled room. He began looking around for anyone intruding on this private affair of his before slowly pulling up one of the floorboards, and reaching into the dry dusty hole that he had made a long, long time ago. He stretched his arm in the hole and pulled out a small delicate looking golden chest. It was only about the size of a shoe box, but if anyone could see the gleam in his eyes and the smile on his old wrinkly lips you could tell this item was his most treasured possession.

"Sweeto! I haven't looked at you for ages my darling! Oh, how I have missed you so." Happosai said as a small happy tear of joy ran down from his eye.

Happosai slowly opened the chest as a blinding golden light poured out from the inside revealing a golden pair of panties with white lace. He was frozen where he was just staring at his most prized possession holding them up in front of himself with wide eyes.

You could say that all was well in the Tendo home, but one character has yet to make an entrance. As he was still in the air from Akane's latest rage driven mallet attack that threw him straight into the stratosphere. But, all things that go up must come down.

"Man, I must 'a really gotten Kane' mad at me this time I don't think I've ever made it this high before. Stupid Un-Cute Tomboy!" Ranma said as he was falling straight down towards the Tendo residence.

* * *

There was instantly a load crash and rumbling sounds that shook the entire house all the way from the foundation to the top of the attic. The noise and the rumble that made the whole house tremble got everyone's attention straight away.

Nodoka and Kasumi instantly stopped their humming and meal preparations in the kitchen as they heard the loud crash from Happosai's room and turned their heads towards that direction. Soun and Genma had no choice to set aside their game of shogi and look towards their masters living quarters. As the pieces of their game of shogi had been thrown around during the rumbled that shook the entire house. Nabiki's money had also been sent tumbling off her desk and onto the floor from the sheer crash as well.

' _I wonder what that old lecherous freak has gotten himself into this time.'_ Nabiki Thought to herself while turning her head away from her portfolio and earnings. She slowly rose from her chair to poke her head out of the doorway towards the location of the old Master's room.

Akane had been deep in thought and was working on her math homework when the explosion made her lose her focus. ' _What is wrong with people can't we just have one day without something strange and crazy happening it's been nice so far today... well besides Ranma and Shampoo.'_ Akane thought as she rose from her desk and poked her head out of the doorway almost mimicking her older sister Nabiki.

"Owe that's smarts!" Ranma said as he was picking himself up off the floor only to see he was rising just in front of Happosai who was holding some sort of ripped in half golden lacy monstrosity.

"RANMAAAAAA!" Happosai screamed as he held up the pair of ripped golden panties that was his most valuable possession. "You have done it now, Boy! I am going to make your life a living hell from now on!"

"Oh, yeah whatever ya Old Freak! ya always say stuff like that I'm leavin'." Ranma said ignoring the tears and cries of anguish from the lecherous old Master.

"Just you wait inconsiderate whelp I'll be back to make you pay! You have no right to practice the art as far as I'm concerned, and you will be punished for what you have done to my sweet darling!" Happosai exclaimed in a bout of rage bounding out of the hole Ranma made in the roof.

"Humph, the old freak seems really ticked off this time usually he would 'a just started chasing me then threw me into orbit." Ranma said to himself as he started to leave Happosai's room.

"What did you do this time Saotome, seems like you really made the Old Creep angry?" Nabiki asked with an I want answers look plastered over her usual stern ice queen face.

"I didn't do noth-" Ranma said before he was cut off.

"Ranma what did you do? What was that big explosion? And, why was Happosai screaming to punish you?" Akane asked as all the other people in the Tendo residence followed up behind her.

"Noth'in, Tomboy I did noth'in he just got upset cause one of his darlings got ripped when I fell through the roof from _you_ knocking me into the sky from earlier!" Ranma said not really knowing the gravity of which darling had gotten ripped.

"You better not have caused us any more trouble with the master, Boy!" Genma proclaimed staring down his son.

"It's fine has the Old Lecher, ever really been able ta _punish_ me?" Ranma retorted back with a cocky grin on his face.

"You don't know the master as well as we do dear. He is not someone you should be messing with. I forbid you from toying with him, and I think you should apologize before something bad happens." Nodoka said to her son in a stern motherly but caring manner.

"I'm sorry mom, but I ain't apologizing to nobody! And I'm going to bed early I'm tired of dealing with all this stuff right now!" Ranma said sternly as he walked to his room and slammed the door behind him.

Everyone went back to what they were doing before, besides Nabiki, she had to call the insurance company and some renovators to come repair the new hole in the roof.

* * *

 **The Neko Hanten - Midnight the same day.**

Happosai has had a great deal of training to become unseen even in plain sight, he can blend into his surroundings and covers up his entire battle aura if need be. This allowed him to sneak right into the Neko Hanten in the middle of the night and stay unseen and unheard. As he headed upstairs to Cologne's room where he knew she kept the most powerful herbs and secrets under lock and key.

 _'Now where is it I know it has to be here somewhere? I have seen it work with my own eyes, and I know she has to have the recipe written down somewhere.'_ Happosai thought to himself while looking through Cologne's book on "Amazon Punishments." ' _Aha! This is it this will punish Ranma for destroying my most prized darling. Now I just need to get the ingredients.'_ Happosai thought to himself as he ripped the page from the book stuffing it into his purple gi. He then placed the book just where he had found it. Before jumping out of the open window to make sure that the no one would interfere with his plans.

* * *

 **Furinkan High School About a Week After Happosai left.**

Ranma was sitting under the tree during lunch period with Hiroshi and Daisuke. Who were probably the closest things Ranma had to actual friends even if they would always ask him the most perverted questions about his relationships with Akane and his other fiancées.

This day was another quiet, chilly, and uneventful one without a cloud in the sky as the sun was shining through the leaves of the tree that the three boys were sitting under, but on the other side of Nerima you could see a storm trying to blow its way into their peaceful quiet day and it looked like it might be here within a few minutes.

"So Ranma I heard a rumor that Akane caught you with Shampoo last week?" Hiroshi asked nudging his elbow into Ranma in the side.

"Yeah, I also heard that you and Ukyo met up too, man it's not fair you get all the lady's around here, and not only that they're all engaged to you too." Daisuke said with a frown looking at Ranma.

"What!?, it was nothin' like that I swear, and it's not like I asked to be engaged to all of em it's all my dumb po-"Ranma was exclaiming before he got cut off.

All three of the boy's heard the loud female screeches coming off in the distance of the school. They all looked at each other with the same thought in their minds. ' _The old freak.'_ Ranma stood up ready to knock some sense into his old master.

"Well, bye Ranma I guess you're off." Hiroshi said sarcastically.

"Yeah, we will guard your bento just make it quick we know how good Kasumi's cooking is." Daisuke said while laughing.

Ranma nodded "Thanks, guy's I owe ya one." before leaping off to go after Happosai.

* * *

Happosai was running through the masses of school girls in Furinkan high he was flipping up skirts, groping chests, and squeezing tooshies. He was trying to draw out one Ranma Saotome, but he was also doing it to for his own twisted pleasure. He made his way into and out of the female locker room in a flash with a bag filled to the brim with lady's undergarments. That was when he sensed a foot about to smash him into the ground. He dodged quickly to avoid the powerful strike. That was when he looked up to see his heir to the Anything Goes School.

"Ranma, my dear boy, have you come to accept your punishment with open arms or will I have to beat it into you like before?" Happosai snarled angrily glaring at Ranma with vicious intent.

"No way no how ya old freak, I'm just here to keep ya from causing more trouble, and when have ya ever beat anythin' into me!" Ranma retorted with a cocky grin. Ranma could sense something was different with the Old Lecher, but he couldn't place his finger on it. This caused a slight chill to go up his spine, but he wasn't going to let Happosai notice it in the least.

The students of Furinkan started piling in around the two combatants in the courtyard of the school. Nabiki was already accepting bets from the other students about who was going to win. Akane was standing to the side, and Ukyo was right beside her as well.

"Fine by me Ranma, I challenge you and if I win then you have to accept your punishment and I don't want any arguments from you!" Happosai said with a creepy lecherous smile and a gleam in his eye.

"Alright you Lecherous Old Freak, and if I win you have to leave Nerima and never come back!" Ranma snarled back. Just as the brewing storm from the other end of Nerima crept in slowly. Lightly it started to sprinkle as it was just enough to trigger the change in Ranma to Ranma-chan.

"Ranma! Don't accept you don't even know what the punishment will even be! Think before act you stupid Baka!" Akane screamed at Ranma hoping this time might be different from all the times before, but she knew her plea would only fall on deaf ears. ' _why can't he learn! He never listens to me this is going to end badly I just know it.'_ Akane Thought.

"Shut it Akane, I know what I'm doi'n and I'll never back down from a challenge! I accept ya Old Freak I never lose!" Ranma-Chan shouted back cockily in an egotistical manner but was instantly frozen in place.

Happosai was probably the most powerful martial artist in the world he was just as old as Cologne maybe even older no one truly knows. With all his knowledge that he has gathered in his old age, he has also spent centuries deepening his Ki stores and growing his battle aura to enormous levels. He has never shown it in its full potential for many, many years. The ground beneath him started to crack, break, and distort in many ways. The dust around the area started to rise into the air just as the rain droplets that were falling from the sky seemed as if they were floating around him. The student body instantly dropped to their knees gasping for air and clawing at their throats.

Then there was an intense light coming off his aura that was blinding and hard to look at. Not to mention the size, it was like someone had plucked the sun from the sky and sat it on the earth right in front of everybody to look at. Happosai usually would get distracted from a pretty girl or from one of his so-called sweet darling flying through the air, but that was only because he knew he could get away with it in the long run. Today was not that day he had been seething with rage ever since Ranma had destroyed his most prized possession, and he was entirely focused on this battle. He wanted it to be short so he could witness his heir try to get through life with his punishment that he believed Ranma truly deserved.

"You see girly, you are no match for me do you yield or would you like for me to continue?" Happosai snarled with a death glare towards Ranma.

Ranma was still frozen unable to move. ' _This…this can't be the Old Freak was holding back this much all along it…it can't be there is no way! Why wouldn't he have finished us all off the dozens of other times we made him angry or mad. It just doesn't make any sense?'_ Ranma was stunned and still frozen with an expression no one had ever seen on her face before it was fear, but she wasn't necessarily scared of Happosai she was afraid to lose. She knew deep down that she would never be able to beat the Old Lecherous Fool he was just plainly too powerful. ' _Pop's and Soun were right I never should have went against his word. The master, was just that a master of the art and I can't believe I am thinking this, but I should have listened, now I know why Pop's and Soun always did everything that Lecherous bastard asked. They stood no chance against him.'_

"I..I..I..wi…will never yield!" Ranma replied sheepishly and barely got out of her mouth. The masters battle aura was making the air so thick it was nearly impossible to breathe.

"Fine then Girly, you leave me no choice!" Happosai shouted as he shot forward hitting Ranma with his pipe in almost every pressure point that he knew would put Ranma in agonizing pain, and paralyze her, but also keep the girl awake. He wanted Ranma to see her defeat, he wanted Ranma to taste losing to someone, and he wanted Ranma to know what it was like to lose the most precious thing you own. He also knew exactly what that was to Ranma.

"AGGHHHHHH…. AGHHHHH!" Ranma screeched buckling over falling to the ground with a loud thud. As she screamed out in pain and agony she knew the battle was over. She had lost and yet the battle had only just begun. She couldn't even try to distract Happosai by showing her own bare chest. Not that she thought it would work she could sense that nothing would stop the master now. He was intent on winning with the same intent that she usually had. When she had to fight someone, she would do anything to win, she would use everything in her power to watch her opponent fall, and she could see that fire in the master's eyes. She had never seen it there before, and she knew she had to accept the punishment. She knew she had to yield, but there was only one thing stopping her. ' _dammit I'm Ranma Saotome and I never lose, I hafta win, I just hafta!'_

"I ain't yielding no matter what!" Ranma spit out with a mouth full of blood. ' _I still can't move I only have one move I can do but I need my arms I'll have to try and gather as much KI as I can and force them to move.'_ With that Ranma forced as much battle aura and Ki as she could muster and forced it into her arms, and slowly she regained control. Not enough to go into hand to hand combat, but all she needed was to focus her Ki into one attack. The most powerful one she could use at this very moment.

Ranma slowly moved her arms aiming right for the Old Lecher and shouted "Mako Takabishi!"

The blast was aimed perfectly. Happosai had not expected her to even be able to move her arms let alone summon enough Ki to use that move, and it was a perfect shot. The walls behind the blast crumbled to the ground, the dust in the air made everything impossible to see, and every student that was watching was suddenly able to breathe again.

"Ranma!" Akane screamed running with tears in her eyes toward the redhead laying on the ground not moving a muscle.

As she approached the redhead and was just an arm's length away she was immediately dropped to the ground by the same battle aura from before gasping for air. She slowly turned her head as she was barely able to see the master through the dust and debris in the air, but she could see his glowing, yellow, murderous eyes all the same. When the dust finally settled enough to see him clearly. It was plain as day that he didn't even have a scratch on him. The blast was all for nothing. Then just as he appeared he was gone, but she still couldn't breathe. She looked around frantically only to find him in front of her and on top of Ranma with his pipe pointed directly at Ranma's jugular.

"Ranma no! Please don't kill him please!" Akane screamed as though she were the one who was about to die.

"Kill him no, no I'm not going to kill him I'm going to punish him he took away the thing I held most dear to me so I am going to do the same to him!" the Master responded. "So, Ranma I will ask you again do you yield?"

"I…I…I…Y..Yield" she whispered barely enough for Akane to hear with tears running down her own face. She would be shaking if it wasn't for the pressure points keeping her from making any movement.

"Good now I want you to swallow this. Take your punishment like a man you lost and on your honor, as a martial artist you agreed to accept it." It was just a pill about the size of an American quarter, but it glowed an eerily blue like water in a balloon that had been held up to the sun. It also looked like it had something inside of it almost like some sort of powder that was swimming around as if it was alive.

"Ranma you don't know what it is don't do it!" Akane shouted, but yet again she knew it would fall on deaf ears. Ranma's honor as a martial artist would make him swallow it. Hell, if she had been in the same situation she would have swallowed it. It was a matter of honor and what are you left with if you have no honor.

"Akane you know I can't do that I lost" _Cough…Cough "_ Give me tha pill… Master..." Ranma said with as much courage as she could muster.

Happosai shoved the shinning blue pill forcefully into the mouth of his heir and made sure Ranma swallowed it. "Good now have fun, girly I'll be back to check up on how much you have changed in several months don't disappoint me!" Happosai said with a happy tinge in his voice then lowered his battle aura and bounded off into the sky far away from view.

Everything went bad the second the pill entered Ranma stomach it felt like a thousand needles were poking and stabbing her entire body and her brain felt like it was going to explode then the darkness slowly fell over her eyes ' _well at least I'm not dea-'_

Akane quickly picked up Ranma and ran as fast as she could to Dr. Tofu's her legs were screaming for her to stop and her lungs were burning for air as she was just starting to be able to breathe again, but she knew she had to get help for Ranma. There was nothing that she could do to help him right now, but keep running and running. The entire way there she was screaming with tears running down her eyes hoping and praying for the red-headed girl not to die. "Just don't die…Just don't die…Just don't die." was all she said over and over again all the way to Dr. Tofu's clinic. She was followed by Ukyo who was in pretty much the same boat with tears running down her eyes as well. When both girls finally made it inside Dr. Tofu's clinic they screamed for help and collapsed on the floor from lack of oxygen.

* * *

 **Dr. Tofu's Clinic the Next Day.**

All eyes were on a certain redhead laying in on a hospital bed with an I.V. in her arm. The whole family came to visit and no one knew what that blue pill was not even Dr. Tofu. He had spent all night searching for anything he could find on the description Akane had given him but came up with nothing as a result. That was until Cologne come to visit after finally hearing about what had happened to Ranma by conversations at her restaurant. She was of course accompanied by Mousse and Shampoo.

"So, Son-In-Law, made Happy this mad I knew Happy was strong but even I couldn't contemplate that he was hiding this much power." Cologne said with a regrettable low and sincere tone of voice.

"Yes, Elder, it appears so, but his body doesn't really seem all the beaten up. Happosai merrily used dozens of pressure point techniques to immobilize Ranma and put him in serious pain. That isn't necessarily what worries me though, I easily set everything back to normal. What worries me is what was in this so-called pill Ranma was given." Tofu sighed and started cleaning his classes. "You see Elder, when Akane and Ukyo brought Ranma in and I corrected the pressure points used. I thought maybe dousing him with some warm water and triggering a change would bring him out of this state, but I'm afraid no matter how hot I was able to get the water no change occurred."

Cologne raised an eyebrow and asked, "You said, he gave Son-in-law a pill what exactly did this pill look like if I might ask?"

"The pill was about the size of a quarter and it was blue, and it was also shinning like it was being held up in the sun, but it was cloudy and raining when he pulled it out so it couldn't have been that." Akane Answered.

"Let me ask one more question, Child, was there something inside of this pill something that looked alive?"

"Yes, yes there was h-how did you know that?" Akane asked pleadingly hoping Cologne might know what was wrong and could fix it.

"I hope I am wrong on this child, but let me see something." Cologne then proceeded to hop over to Ranma and held her staff over the sleeping girl examining something deep within her.

Cologne lowered her staff and looked at the ground as if she had just confirmed her greatest fear. She turned around to face everyone that was in the room. This included all of the Tendo's, Saotome's, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Mousse. "This is just as I have feared everyone might want to take a seat we might be here for a while." Cologne demanded and hit her staff on the ground as if to signal just how dire this situation is. So, Doctor Tofu left the room and brought in a few more chairs, and everyone took a seat surrounding the Amazon Matriarch.

"This is very bad, very, very bad I don't know what Son-In-Law did to make Happosai this mad, but it is too late for me to do anything thing." Cologne said sadly, "Maybe if I had been there within the hour I could have prevented permanent damage to your son and for that, I am sorry Mr. and Mrs. Saotome." Cologne said in a saddened voice waiting for someone else to ask the question that she really did not want to answer.

"Don't be sorry Elder Cologne, I know you have done some bad things to my son, but I have also heard from him all of the wonderful things you taught him to make him who he is. He looks up to I know he does, but I just want to know what this pill is and what it does could you please let us know?" Nodoka asked pleadingly.

"Very well, I will answer your question, but before I do I want you to answer one of my own. Will you allow me that one stimulation Mother Saotome? I know you might be thinking I am trying to beat around the bush here but I assure you I am not. You see this pill is used in our village back home and it is kept a secret from everyone except the elders of our society. I am the matriarch of the Amazon's so I do have the power to tell you what the side effects of the pill are, but before that, I need to know something about this Seppuku pledge that your husband and son have signed?" Cologne asked pleadingly towards Nodoka.

"I... I guess I will answer whatever you want Elder Cologne, but I don't know what this has to do with anything?" Nodoka sheepishly responded with a quivering voice.

"Before I say any more than I should about this pill. I only ask you this. Do you find that your son has completed said contract to become a man amongst men and that if it is the case the contract is all but null and void?" Cologne asked hoping that Ms. Saotome would pick up on what she was asking and destroy the contract.

"Yes… I… suppose he has grown up to become a very manly man, and with that being said I will consider the contract completed." She said with some slight anger slipping into her voice, "So, it is now as you said Null and void. Now please tell me what is wrong with my son!" Nodoka asked sternly. She was tired of people bringing up that damn contract it had brought more pain and suffering to her family than anything else. She wished they would never have signed the damn thing in the first place.

Dr. Tofu Interjected, "Before you tell everyone here. Do you wish for some of us to leave, you said that only the Elders of your tribe are taught this, I would hate to-?"

Cologne cut Tofu off, "No, Dr. Tofu you need to know what is going on in order to help Ranma when she awakes and in the next few months maybe longer. Now Akane will be needed to help Ranma as she will need a lot of assistance and support for what will happen to her." Cologne waited to see if anyone would pick up on her referring to Son-in-law not only as a female but also as Ranma.

"Ok! out with it I want to know what is wrong with Ranma, Cologne!" Akane screamed.

"Yes, Great Grandmother, I wish to know what is wrong with Arien?" Shampoo pleaded.

"Please, Cologne, just tell us what is wrong with Ranchan?" Ukyo begged.

"Very well, she was given the Guódú, as some of you know Shampoo was punished by not being able to complete the kiss of death on Ranma, and for this punishment, she was sentenced to have a cursed form and turn into a cat. That is the first step of the punishment after that if you are found guilty again or found guilty for another crime that would make you have a cursed form we lock you in your cursed form, and you are to live the rest of your days in that form. That being said we are not totally cruel, we know it will be hard for a person to live out the rest of their days as let's say a panda, ( _Genma flinched)_ a duck ( _Mousse paled_ ), or any other type of animal so we created the Guódú pill or Transition pill. This pill forces the individual to be trapped in their cursed form forever, but that is not the pills complete effect."

Cologne took in a deep breath of air before continuing, "It was created to keep down the casualties of the ones in our tribe who would receive this punishment. You see a person cursed to be a bull can be used in the fields to help out with daily chores, but if one were forced to be a bull forever they could intend to hurt everyone or just commit suicide in order to escape from the harsh reality that is their new life. We could not stand by and have our harshest punishment be used to harm others of our tribe or for the people punished to just take the easy way out and die. So, we made the pill to help the person transition into their new body. You see the pill makes the person over time like their cursed form, they slowly turn their backs on their old body, they become tame, and accept that they were meant to truly become what their cursed form is. I am sorry, but your son will become nothing but an average ordinary teenage girl."

"That's impossible! I raised my boy to be a man, and he will always be a man he won't be a week little gi-" Genma responded but was stopped short by Nodoka's Katana as well as all the other women in the room giving him a death glare.

"Mister Saotome, you have been a martial artist all your life and know how to read Ki and auras I presume?" Cologne narrowed her eyes and the misogynistic man named Genma.

"Yes, Cologne, I'm the one who taught the boy how to do it after all." Genma replied feeling confident.

"Well, then why don't you read your child's Ki and Aura and tell me what you see?" Cologne knew if this did not convince him nothing would.

Genma walked up over to his child, who was laying on the hospital bed looking so helpless, fragile, and wearing nothing but a hospital gown. He peered through all of this to look at his child's Ki and aura his face paled at what he saw. He turned to Cologne and sheepishly asked, "How?"

"I noticed as well, that's what confirmed it for me. Ranma as of right now is no stronger or faster than you Akane, but I'm afraid even this won't last for long. I would say at the rate her Ki stores are depleting that by the day after tomorrow her strength and speed will be nothing but average. About the same as Kasumi or Nabiki, she won't be able to learn it again either the pill will block all of the knowledge off from Ranma's mind and will bury her true potential as a warrior."

"Elder Cologne, please I love my son what is the best thing we can do to help him?" Nodoka asked Pleadingly.

"The only good news I have is that one day in the future Ranma might gain back her ability to fight, some never do after being given the Guódú some just adjust to their new life to much and don't feel the need to fight anymore." Cologne turned to face all of the sobbing fiancée's who had tears flowing down their faces. "Children the reason I asked all of you to be here for this news is that Ranma will need to be protected. All of you should know as well as anyone how many fights and threats Ranma gets on a daily basis. You will need to be by her side or have someone be with her at all times if someone jumps out and attacks her she will be completely defenseless much like if someone just abruptly attacked Kasumi, or Nabiki out of nowhere. Do all of you understand this is of major importance?" Cologne asked sternly to reinforce how important this news is.

"Yes, Ranma has saved my life countless times and I will try my best, Cologne" Akane replied to the best of her abilities at the moment, because she was afraid that the boy she once knew was going to be gone. The boy that who she would never admit it, but often had dreams of marrying one day and becoming a bride to was probably lost to this world.

"Hai, I will do my part to protect my Ranchan." Ukyo replied. Her dreams of marrying Ranma, and running a restaurant were shattered she too broke down in tears.

"Yes, Great Grandmother, I will protect Airen with life." Shampoo said with confidence. But, beneath it all she was internally mortified she was trying her best to hold everything together.

"Dr. Tofu, Ranma won't even notice what is happening she might catch herself and be embarrassed at times, but that will soon fade. You will need to keep a close eye on her and it would be nice to have your door open in case she needs someone to discuss certain matters with. I know that the sign out front says you are only a chiropractor, but I can tell you are an exceptional healer. I don't think Ranma would trust anyone else or at least open up to a random stranger who she doesn't know she can trust." Cologne told Dr. tofu this sternly.

Tofu nodded, "My door will always be open for Ranma, day or not Elder."

"Now for Mr. and Mrs. Saotome please do not try to force her to act or try to go against the effects of the pill. This could cause her to feel like she has failed and she might try to do something drastic. Treat her as if she were born as your daughter. As I know you are well aware I am over 300 years old Nodoka, and I can tell that you always wished for a daughter, well now you have your chance. Hopefully, Ranma will be able to restore her fighting spirit in due time, but she will be a girl from now on that is what the pill does. It is used as a punishment after all, and with that being said."

Cologne turned giving shampoo a saddened look before speaking, "I hereby declare the Kiss of marriage and the Kiss of death complete, because the Ranma that we will be getting back will most likely be different than the one we once knew. That much I know to be true." Cologne needed to make this clear and to make sure that Ranma will not be attacked by Shampoo or Mousse while she is in this weakened state.

"But, Great Grandmother, shampoo love Airen, why?" Shampoo's eyes were starting to water. Mousse walked up to her not in his usual manner of running in headstrong, but in more of a sympathetic way and put a hand on Shampoo's shoulder to calm her down. Shampoo jumped at the contact at first, but she accepted it and the moment they shared did not go unnoticed by Cologne.

"We will talk about this later, we have more important business to attend to as of right now." Cologne turned her attention back to the rest of the group.

"Also, I don't think it would be a wise decision to tell Ranma what the pill is or what it does just tell her it's like a moxibustion point in pill form, but less effective. She won't be as weak as a baby she will just have the strength and Ki stores of a regular average teenage girl. Which by my standards is almost none at all. Also maybe we should wait for Ranma to adjust then tell her that the pill has become permanent for some unknown reason. I think a few months might be enough, but who knows this is Ranma we are talking about she could adapt in a few weeks or stretch it out for a few years."

Cologne and all of the people in the room came up with a plan to tell Ranma, that his strength will return in time, but how long they did not know. They also agreed to keep it a secret of him being permanently stuck. They would tell him that it may take a long time for him to be able to change back maybe six months or longer. Their conversation was cut short by sounds coming from the person they were all just talking about.

Moaning and groaning sounds were heard from the red-headed girl laying in the hospital bed, and all eyes were turned toward her direction. Akane looked with hopeful eyes she heard what Cologne had just told everyone, but she couldn't believe that Ranma man amongst men would turn into an average ordinary girl that was just too much to comprehend and didn't make any sense for that matter.

Genma had almost the same thoughts, but he was thinking more along the lines that his son would never be a weak pathetic girl and he would do everything in his power to make sure that didn't happen. That is unless Nodoka has a say in the matter. Nodoka looked at her son turned daughter with hopeful eyes she had always been a little upset that she wouldn't be able to spend more time with Tendo Ranko, but she was more upset that her son had lied to her about it. That was in the past now though her child needed her more than ever right now.

Dr. Tofu walked to Ranma side of the bed and saw Ranma starting to blink her eyes open "Ranma are you awake?" He asked almost hoping that she wouldn't be. He still didn't know how to break the news to her just yet.

The light was bright, too bright when she first tried to open her eyes. She closed them almost instantly and began to moan in pain. Her body felt like it had just been ran over by a semi, she felt like someone had just strapped her down to a table and she couldn't move, but she also felt relieved almost a sense of warmth around her. She could feel the room and it had a homely feel to it. She tried to open her eyes again and saw Dr. Tofu standing directly in front of her. He said something but she couldn't make it out her senses were still shot. For some reason, she wanted something to hold, she felt a need for something to feel close to, she needed something to comfort her. "Tofu sensei?" she whispered questioningly. "cou... could… you bring me another pillow." She barely whispered it but Tofu and the others in the room heard her loud and clear.

"Umm, Yes Ranma I will be right back." Tofu was surprised, of all the things he had thought Ranma to ask for it had not been a pillow. Well, he was not going to deny her that so he went to another one of his rooms and hurried back with another pillow in hand. He handed it to Ranma not really knowing what she was going to do with it. The others in the room felt the same way they all had the same (what is going on kind of look). And out of all the things they thought she might do with the pillow, it was not what they saw.

Ranma slowly took the pillow from Dr. Tofu's grasp as she gingerly and caringly started to hug the pillow as if it were some kind of animal or pet, but that was not what really surprised them all. It was surprising, to say the least, but the words that Ranma said was what really through every one of them for a loop.

"Thanks, Tofu, me and Mister Pillow are gonna go back to slee-" she said those words with a soft smile that melted as she dug her face over mister pillow and hugged it like it was the only thing she cared about in the world. Before she fell back into the darkness not even noticing all the people around her.

Akane was at a loss for words she didn't even know what to say or do, but she had to leave she had to get away she couldn't help but feel a little guilty in the matter, because if she hadn't knocked Ranma into the sky that day none of this would have happened. "I'm sorry." was all she said before running out of the room with tears streaming down her face. Nodoka followed Akane's lead she couldn't stand to see her manly son it was just too soon it would take her time, but she would be ready for anything just not right now.

Genma was frozen in shock he couldn't believe his eyes or ears, but Colognes words sunk in none the less. The Old Ghoul was right he would have to change. What the Master had done to his boy was inexcusable. He didn't know how or why the Master would do such a thing, but he would be damned if he would sit by and let Ranma turn into a weak little girl. ' _The boy should have listened to me and Soun! Well, that doesn't change anything now a martial artist's life is fraught with peril after all. I'll have to be extra hard on him to make sure he doesn't get too soft though.'_ Genma finally turned to Dr. Tofu and told him in a sad and hushed tone of voice. "When the boy wakes up, call the Tendo's and we will send someone to pick him up."

"Yes, Mr. Saotome." And with that Cologne, Genma and all the others in the room said goodbye as they left Tofu in the room alone with the red-headed former Martial Artist.

* * *

 **Tofu's Clinic Two Weeks later.**

Ranma slowly woke up blinking her eyes open noticing the faint light that came in through with window then noticed she was clinging to something. ' _huh, that's weird I'm hugging a pillow? Feels kinda nice though. Glad no one is here to see this. looks like I'm at Tofu's I should get up. I actually feel kinda good right now. I bet that Old Fools pill didn't even work or somethin.'_

"Hey, Doc! Anybody here?" Ranma called out slowly rising out of her bed she positioned her feet off to the side letting them dangle in the air for a moment, and with a lurch forward starting walking around Tofu's.

"Ranma, I'm over in my office come on in I already started some tea and I have plenty of breakfast for the both of us." Tofu called out before his office door cracked open revealing a short red-headed girl walking in.

"Oh, hey Doc, what's up? I feel fine by the way can't I just go home now?" Ranma asked pleadingly, but she knew that look on Tofu's face he had something to tell her it couldn't be good news.

"I'm sorry Ranma, but I can't let you leave just yet I called the Tendo's already and told them you had woken up. Soun said he was sending Akane to come pick you up she should be here shortly. But, before that, I need to tell you about that the pill Happosai gave you."

"Aww man, there sending the tomboy to come pick me up. Well, whatever what is it with this pill I feel fine, I'm acting fine as far as I can tell, what's up with it? Ranma responded.

So, Tofu Explained as best as he could about the pill and only told Ranma what he and the family agreed upon. Ranma was surprising taking the information well as far as he could tell. They continued to eat breakfast, drink tea, and talk for several minutes before Akane arrived. Just as she was stepping through the door she heard a loud female screech.

"WHAAT! I'M STUCK LIKE THIS AND… AND… AND!" Ranma was not taking the news well, to say the least, she couldn't even bring herself to comprehend the second part. ' _Oh, well maybe I was wrong she isn't taking the news as well as I first thought.'_ Tofu mused.

"It will only be for about six months as for what Cologne said. Ranma please calm down, it is not as bad as it seems. You have been stuck before haven't you it wasn't the end of your life, was it?" Tofu said then began to think that the tea he had given Ranma was clearly not as strong as he had hoped it would have been.

Ranma shrunk down into her seat. "I guess your right it's only six months so I'll make it, but I'm not happy about it, and I ain't gonna need someone looking after me!" Ranma said in with a pouty look on her face.

Akane knew where they were at in Tofu's clinic she could tell from their conversation it wasn't a quite one, to say the least. So, she ran to Tofu's office door and slung it open with all the force she could muster. But, as she saw Ranma was sitting in front of Tofu's desk she all but froze and started staring.

"Hey Kane' what's with that dumb look on your face? What do you care about me or some' tin?" Ranma said in a playful voice while gripping one eyelid down and sticking out her tongue.

"RANMA!" The anger in her eyes only lasted for a second as she remembered what had happened. "Ranma, whatever come on let's go home OK I brought you some clothes from the house unless you want to wear that all day?" she pointed to what Ranma was wearing then held out the bag.

Ranma looked down at herself and immediately blushed crimson this whole time she was talking to Tofu she was still wearing the hospital gown and her backside was completely open for Akane. She quickly snatched the bag from Akane and ran into the room she had woken up in to go change.

Ranma reentered the room in her new wardrobe a moment later. She couldn't help but feel even more embarrassed than before. "Really Akane, ya couldn't have found anything else for me to wear besides this?" She was wearing a soft orange shirt under some pink denim coveralls with the words "China" written on the front.

"Uhh, no sorry Ranma, that's really all I could think of that would fit you." Akane said sheepishly with a sweat drop.

"Ugh, whatever its better than wearing that thing anyway." She dropped the gown she was wearing onto the doctor's desk, "let's just get home so I can change alright." Ranma protested.

"Before you leave Ranma, my clinic is always open to you day or night and you can always talk to me about anything you need to. I am bound by law and honor not to speak of anything you tell me here. If there is ever anything you wish to get off your chest that is." Tofu said cleaning his glasses while walking Akane and Ranma to the front door of his practice

' _There is only one thing I want off my chest.'_ "Uh, yeah sure thing Doc, c'ya later" Ranma replied.

"Thanks, Tofu-sensei," Akane bowed her head to Tofu before exited the clinic and heading back home with Ranma.

* * *

 **The Walk Back Home.**

Ranma and Akane walked down the street leaving Tofu's almost never saying a word to one another. The winds were cold as the season was changing from winter to spring although you couldn't tell it. The sky was clouded over in a dark gray fashion almost as if it was about to rain, but if the weather reporters were correct then nothing of the sorts was bound to happen.

Akane needed to know how much Tofu-Sensei had told Ranma about the Guódú, so that she could warn the others as well as try to keep her own mouth shut about the horrible side effects. "So, Ranma what did Tofu tell you about that pill Happosai gave you?" Akane tried to hide her nervousness as she asked just as they were turning around a corner.

"Well, he basically said that I'm gonna be stuck like this for a while maybe six months or so, and it's kinda like that moxibustion thingy that Happosai used on me last time. Why?" Ranma put her hands behind her head while cocking it one side in order to look at Akane.

"Well, Ranma you're taking the news a lot better than I had expected?" Akane asked. _'Cologne had told us that the Guód_ _ú did make the user more comfortable in their cursed form maybe that's why?'_

"Uhh, yeah but I don't know maybe I'll get to relax a bit and have a semi-normal lifestyle for a change. At least that my way of thinking about it." Ranma said. But, even as the words left her mouth she was wondering to herself why? Also, why didn't she feel different like she always did in her cursed form? She felt comfortable like she wasn't in her cursed form at all. It made her worry for a second, but then it faded.

Akane put on her best everything in the world is OK and perfect smile and said "Yeah, that's a great idea Ranma! So, what are you going to do today? School is closed for the day because they finally got the contractor in to work on the damages from you and Happosai."

"Hmm, I didn't really give it much thought, to be honest, what are ya going to be doing?" Ranma asked with a thoughtful expression not really knowing what to do with a full day of nothing.

"Well, I was invited to go with Yuka and Sayuri to go get some ice cream." Akane wasn't really invited to go get ice cream with the two girls, but she knew that Ranma couldn't turn down her favorite dessert. Plus, if Ranma was going to have to go to school as a girl for the indefinite future she was going to need all the help she could get. She knew that Gym was still going to be one big nightmare. She had no clue how she was going to convince those two to help her. Especially from all the times, she had called Ranma a pervert. "You can come if you want?" Akane asked but already knew the answer.

Ranma's mystical blue eyes widened and a smile that went from ear to ear. "Yes! Can I go please, please?" she was jumping up and down in happiness but quickly shook her head and pulled herself together. "I mean yeah sure I'll come you know how much I like ice-cream." with a nonchalant wave of a head like nothing had ever happened, but she still had a big goofy grin on her face.

Akane giggled a little at Ranma joyful outburst. "Yeah, I already said you can come, but we still have to stop by the house first to call Yuka and Sayuri."

"Were already here Kane'." Ranma said as they reached the main gate to the Tendo residence. "let's just run in and try to get out as fast as possible I don't want mom hovering over me and I especially don't want Pop's girls are weak talk right now…" Ranma replied looking down and kicking a rock with her foot.

"Tadaima." was called out in unison as Ranma and Akane entered the Tendo home.

"O-kaeri-nasai." Kasumi and Nodoka called out in unison back at the two younger girls before Nodoka stepped out of the kitchen to check up on Ranma and see how she was doing.

"I'm going to run to the phone to call Yuka and Sayuri really quick I'll catch back up with you Ranma." Akane announced as she ran passed Nodoka and Ranma into the kitchen by the phone.

"Oh, Ranma are you alright? You don't need to lie down, do you? I don't want you to overexert yourself." as Nodoka came up to her son turned daughter and dropped down to embrace her daughter in a big hug.

"Uhh, mom I'm fine me and Akane were just gonna go get some ice cream and hang out with some of her friends. But, Mom could you please put me down it's getting hard to breath. Ahk!" Ranma was slowing starting to turn blue from her mother's strong embrace.

"Oh, of course, dear how thoughtless of me, and I'm glad Akane is going to be there. We can't have you getting injured just after you got out of the hospital now can we dear?" Nodoka had a stern don't question me look and attitude about how she said that.

"Uhm, of course not mom." Ranma said sheepishly looking at the ground with a red tinge coming to her cheeks 'g _eeze if it's this bad already I don't even want to know what it's going to be like in a few days let alone a week or two…'_

Akane came running back around the corner "Ok, Ranma I called Yuka and Sayuri they said they are on their way to the ice-cream shop now. We really should hurry if we want don't want to be late!"

"OK, Mom we got 'a go bye." Ranma said as she and Akane reached down to put their shoes back on. The thought about what Ranma was wearing at the time and changing into her usual garb completely left her mind as the two girls headed out the front door towards the direction of the Ice-cream shop.

* * *

 **The Ice Cream Shop And The Walk Back Home.**

"I can't believe Akane wants to go to an ice cream shop when it's this cold outside!" Yuka said shivering as a cold gust blew by her and Sayuri. They were only a few blocks away from the Ice-cream shop. But, Yuka was already on edge from being drug out of her own warm comforting home so she could walk the streets freezing to go to an ice cream shop where she knew she was going to order anything but that. "Why are ice cream shops even open at this time of year it makes no sense!?" Yuka protested as they turned down another block getting one step closer to their destination.

"Well, when I was talking to Akane on the phone at your house she said it had something to do with whatever that pill was that Ranma had to take after he lost to that Lecherous Old Creep." She said with a huff, "She also said she needed our help with Ranma whatever that means. Ranma was the only boy who ever stood up to that Creep and Akane is our friend so I figured we at least need to hear them out." Sayuri said pleading with Yuka to continue their way to the shop.

It was hard enough dragging her butt out of the house as it is let alone getting her to come to an ice cream shop with this weather. The two girls turn left down another block as another cold gust of wind picked up and blew around them. The cold chill was not pleasant, to say the least and the skies were still covered overhead not letting a single ray of sunshine fall over the Nerima ward. It was truly a cold, chilly, and breezy, winter day no one could argue that fact.

There was a long pause for a minute or two when Yuka finally broke the silence "Well, this better be worth it I don't know about you, but I have a bad feeling about this." as they turned down the last block and they could see their destination.

They saw Ranma and Akane just entering the store as one of the waiters opened the door for them to enter. Ranma looked happy with a wide grin plastered on her face. How couldn't she be she was about to part take in one of her most not so secret luxuries. There were so few that she had besides fighting in martial arts and learning new techniques for martial arts she really had nothing else that she enjoyed in life. Besides the few times she got to go out into the town with Daisuke and Hiroshi and live as a normal teenager, but even when she hung out with them their conversations would always drift back to what she had done with her fiancées, and that always made her feel uncomfortable.

Akane had a worried expression on her face she didn't know how to break the news to Yuka and Sayuri, and if she did she couldn't let Ranma hear what the real side effects of the pill would do to him. He would probably freak out and run away off to China and then what would happen to him then he would just be an average teenage girl. Something horrible could happen and she shivered at that thought. She had to find a way to separate Ranma from the group, just long enough for her to explain somethings to Yuka and Sayuri. Luckily the ice cream shop was pretty empty given that it was a cold day and no one would really want ice cream at a time like this. It was good they could get some privacy in their conversation. Just as they were taking their seats in a booth at the back by a window, Yuka and Sayuri came in approaching their booth.

' _Ranma looks happy as always and he seems fine I don't know why Akane brought us out here but I don't like it one bit, not with that worried expression on her face. Something is up and I know it.'_ Yuka thought to herself as she and Sayuri said "Hi." In unison and sat down in the booth across from Ranma and Akane.

"So, what can I get you, ladies, this evening?" The waiter asked standing in front of them all holding his notepad and had his pen at the ready.

Ranma was the first to speak up with a dreamy girly tone of voice. "Mister, I'll take the Brownie Ice Cream Parfait with Raspberries and Strawberries, please!" She had a huge grinning smile and it was almost comical how she wasn't even trying to hold in her happiness. Akane, Sayuri, and even Yuka couldn't help but giggle at her performance.

"Ranma, your always so cute when you're like that." Commented Yuka trying to get a stir out of the redhead, but was very surprised with the response she got in return. Ranma's cheeks became a deep shade of red and tried to hide her face almost like she had been caught by her mother with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Th… Thanks…" Ranma replied sheepishly looking down at the table trying to keep eye contact away from the other girls at the table. ' _What's wrong with me I'm blushing and trying to hide my face I need to calm down I'm acting like a girl.'_ Ranma shook her head and recollected herself, but still couldn't keep that goofy dreamy grin off her face.

"Well, we don't serve much ice cream during this time of year, but I'll see what I can do for you, young lady. Now, what can I get the rest of you?" Asked the waiter.

"I think I speak for all the rest of us when I say we want some Hot Chocolate?" Yuka said as she turned her head looking at Akane and Sayuri as they both nodded in agreement.

"Hai." Akane said followed by Sayuri.

"Well, I'll go put your order in and be right back." The waiter said as he turned and left the four young girls to themselves.

"OK, what's going on Akane, you said this was urgent and it had something to do with Ranma? He doesn't look like anything is wrong with him." Yuka asked with almost demanding answers.

' _How am I going to put this? I know they won't just jump on board and say, "Yeah sure we will help Ranma start going to school as a girl." Not after all the trouble, I have caused calling Ranma a pervert all the time. Well, I can't just sit here and keep quiet their starting to look at me funny.'_ Akane thought to herself after a few moments as Yuka, Sayuri and even Ranma were staring at here.

"Ah, well y-you see Ranma is going to have to be a-"

"OK, girls here is one, Brownie Ice Cream Parfait with Raspberries and Strawberries, and three Hot Chocolates I'll leave you alone unless there is anything else you girls need?" The waiter said interrupting Akane. He noticed two girls staring at him like he had broken up some sort of big news and they looked kind of pissed. "Uh, well I guess not I'll leave you be then." he said as he turned and left them to continue their conversation.

Ranma was no longer going to be in this conversation she had her Parfait and was too entranced by its very presence to even hear or care about what the other girls at the table were talking about. Akane, Yuka, and Sayuri were all sipping on their Hot Chocolates trying to warm up from their long walk to get here. Yuka was feeling better now that she was warm again, but she still hadn't found anything out.

"OK, spill it Akane I want to know details why are we here to talk about Ranma?" Yuka retorted she was tired of the interruptions.

"Well, you see, uh, well that pill that the old creep made Ranma take. It has some side effects. Ranma is now going to be locked in his girl form for a long while and not only that but do you remember when the old creep used that moxibustion thing on Ranma and he became severely weakened from it?" Akane sighed as she finally was finally able to get her words out.

Yuka and Sayuri both looked at each other as they both sat down their Hot beverages down on the table. Then took a deep look at Ranma who was eating her parfait, but what they hadn't even noticed was that he was eating it like any normal person would have been. They could only assume that his speed was already taking a big hit from whatever was in this pill. Sayuri was the first to speak up. "So, what is it that you want us to help with we can't protect Ranma if she gets into a fight were not martial artists? You know that Akane."

"Well, that's not really the issue I have right now. The problem is school Ranma is going to have to go to school as a girl. That means she is going to have to use the girl's restrooms as well as locker rooms. I was hoping that if all of us acted like it was alright then we wouldn't have any issues to worry about?" Akane asked pleadingly.

Ranma had just finished her parfait and overheard the last bit of Akane's speech. ' _Oh, man I am gonna have to use the girl's locker room. I didn't even think about that. I need to leave somehow this is too embarrassing. I do kinda need to use the restroom.'_ Ranma had a plan, "Uh, Hey I'm 'a head off to the restroom I'll be back in a bit kay." Ranma said as she climbed out of the booth and ran into the "Male" restroom and went into one of the stalls.

"Is this some kind of trick Akane, you always call Ranma a pervert I don't want him coming in our locker room and ogling at all of us!" Yuka was not happy with this news.

"No, no it's nothing like that, but now that she's gone, Yuka, Sayuri that's not all the pill does, and it doesn't just lock him for a few months either it's a permanent thing." Akane sighed waiting a few moments for Yuka and Sayuri to respond.

"WHAT!?" they both spit some of their hot chocolate out as they were just taking another sip. They then turned to look at the bathroom to make sure that Ranma wasn't about to pop out of nowhere. Sayuri was the first to be taken out of her utter shock and turned back to Akane, "Akane this is big, Ranma is going to freak if he ever finds out." Yuka turned back finally and recollected herself, "This is going to be a big job Akane, Ranma is a boy and not only that he always seemed to pride himself on his 'Masculinity.'" She did air quotes with her fingers.

Akane took a long sip of her Hot Chocolate to regain control over herself before speaking again. "I know, I know it's going to be bad when she finds out. We planned to tell her what it actually does once she gets more accustomed to being a girl. But, that's not all the pill does… It also makes him become his cursed form. Like he will actually become an average ordinary teenage girl I don't know what that means yet. I didn't ask Cologne what it meant before I couldn't take the news anymore and left. I've already seen him have a few episodes. I mean he er she just had one, have you ever seen Ranma eat anything especially ice cream that slow and well lady-like?"

"Yeah, I noticed that it did seem really strange he er she was also really excited even more so than I have ever seen her for some ice cream, and even when Ranma is in girl form he er she usually doesn't order any kind of parfait that girly." Sayuri commented.

"Good so you will help me? And, you can't tell anyone about this! Not even Ranma knows." Akane asked pleadingly.

"Well, Akane I don't know about Yuka, but I'm in. It might be kinda fun to see what Ranma turns into, and if he er she truly turns into a girl, do you think Ranma might want a boyfriend?" Sayuri asked with a devilish grin looking at Akane.

"Oh, Kami-Sama I hope not! I love Ranma you both know I do. I… I don't know what I would do if that were the case, but I also don't know if I could be with Ranma if Ranma was a girl." Akane said as she put her face in her hands and plopped her head on the table in disgust.

"Well, Akane, I still don't really believe all of this, but I will try to help out as much as I can." Yuka picked up her Hot Chocolate and took another big drink from it while cupping it in her hands to warm back up a little. "I still don't really believe any of this though I have seen Ranma do tricks like this before you know."

"I know, I know, but believe me this time it's serious, and I really need both of you to help me on this please?" Akane asked as she was repeated what Yuka was doing trying to warm up a little.

"I already said I would help Akane." Sayuri said reassuring Akane.

"I guess I'll help, but like I said I still don't totally believe all of this." Yuka said sternly.

All of this was going on while Ranma was in the bathroom (The Male Bathroom that is) she had just gotten done relieving herself stood up turned around and flushed. She exited the stall and walked up to the mirror. ' _You know, I don't look half bad as a girl. It ain't so hard to be one either it's kinda like a little break from all the chaos in my life for once. Maybe this wasn't really a punishment, but more like a small vacation from my old life. Maybe I will even thank that Old Lecher the next time I see him. I bet that will really piss him off.'_ Ranma thought to herself laughing and started to wash her hands. That was until she was pulled out of her fantasy land by a deep booming voice behind her.

"You, know young lady, if you want to see the rest of the bathroom I can show you around?" a guy who was in the process of relieving himself at one of the urinals said as his head was turned over his shoulder staring at her.

Ranma turned around and didn't know what to say. She was completely frozen in embarrassment. Her eyes got wide, her mouth dropped open, her hands shot to out to the side, and she stiffened up like a board just staring at the man using the urinals.

The man started laughing and smiled a lecherous smile while saying, "I was only joking around, but if you are going to keep staring like that you might want to take a picture." He was still relieving himself and laughing at the young redhead's antics behind him.

"I... I… I'm… s-sorry!" Ranma stuttered and halfway screamed as her face turned as red as her hair, and she ran out of the bathroom back to the table to reunite with her friends. "Guy's, we should go I don't want to be here anymore!" Ranma looked at them all pleadingly.

"Ranma are you alright? You looked like you're running a fever your face is as red as a beat maybe we should get you back home." Akane said. She was slightly worried Ranma never acted like this.

"Yeah, we can walk you two back home, Ranma doesn't look so good?" Sayuri asked.

Yuka looked a little disappointed she wanted to go back home, where it was warm and cozy. She didn't want to walk all the way to the Tendo's, but she was already roped in and she said she was going to help. "Yeah, it's no trouble at all..." Yuka commented with some disappointment leaking through her voice.

So, the four girls exited the ice cream shop and started their journey home. The cold journey home that is. With gusts of cold wind and not any heat coming from the sun to warm them in the slightest. Akane, Yuka, and Sayuri were cold, but they had all just drank some very delicious and warm hot chocolate, so they were feeling at least somewhat warm and cozy in the chilly weather they were having.

But, there was one redhead who decided not to get a Hot Chocolate today, and she was shivering, freezing, and her teeth were chattering against each other. The other girls noticed and were getting kinda concerned. The beat red that was on Ranma's face as they exited the Ice Cream Shop was all gone and the only red part that was left was on her nose, her cheeks were pale and her lips were slightly turning blue. She was holding herself and shaking from the freezing air around her and the frozen dessert in her stomach was only making matters worse.

"Um, hey why don't we stop in this shop and get Ranma a Jacket or a sweater or something." Sayuri asked the other girls in concern.

As her teeth were chattering against another Ranma tried to speak. "N... N… N…" was all Ranma got out before she was grabbed by Akane and shoved into a clothing store followed by Yuka and Sayuri who were giggling at how easy it was for Akane to 'man handle' Ranma in this state.

"Ranma, stay here and warm up with Yuka and Sayuri. I already know your size I'll be back with something a little warmer, and we can head home. It's already getting late as it is and I'm sure Kasumi and your mom have already started planning out dinner." Akane said sternly as she sat the shivering redhead down on a bench that was in the store.

Ranma was too cold to argue with Akane, all she wanted to do was get warmer. _'Man, I'm freezing my tail off here. Must be this stupid girl body I never needed a jacket or coat before.'_ Ranma thought while she was visibly shaking. She barely whispered out a "Th—tha-thanks." Before Akane left her with Yuka and Sayuri who were holding the shaking and freezing redhead trying to warm her up as best as they could. Sayuri finally just took off her own jacket and through it around the much, much smaller redhead.

The warmth that was still in the jacket paired with the warm air in the clothing store was just enough for Ranma to stop shivering. She grabbed the open end of the jacket and covered herself with it. In all honesty, it was more like a blanket to her. Not saying Sayuri was big by any means it was just that female Ranma was so much more tiny compared to the other girl. Ranma was warming up and everything seemed to be calming down once again. She completely stopped shivering, color came back to her face, and then something that neither Sayuri or Yuka would have ever thought was going to happen in their lifetime happened.

"Kawaii! Look, look, look, Yuka, Sayuri isn't it just soooo cute! Oh, my gosh!" Ranma exclaimed as she jumped up and running towards an aisle filled with cute little-stuffed animals. She approached a stuffed piglet that looked a lot similar to P-Chan, but this one was red Ranma's favorite color. She grabbed it and held it to her chest while snuggling it like it was an actual animal. She was running back to Yuka and Sayuri holding out in front of her to show them when Yuka whispered to Sayuri "I think I believe Akane now If I hadn't of seen it I wouldn't have believed it myself this is going to take a lot of getting used to." Sayuri whispered back with a shocked look on her face "You said it Ranma is going to need a lot of looking after if he er she is going to be acting like this all the time."

It was a good thing Ranma was in one of her girly episodes because the only jacket Akane could find was a pink one as there just wasn't that many options for Ranma's size. She had to go all the way to the junior department just to find something that would fit. When she returned she was just as shocked as Yuka and Sayuri as she saw Ranma spinning in circles in the middle of the store holding a stuffed red piglet exclaiming how Kawaii she thought Miss. P, was. Akane could only assume that the Piglet was indeed Miss. P. Akane shook her head to gather herself and approached Ranma still expecting some sort of resistance when she offered Ranma the Jacket.

"Uhh, Ranma?" Akane almost asked questioningly as if this was some other Ranma she was speaking to.

in a soft soprano-like voice that Akane remembered back when Ranma had hit his head and acted like a girl she responded, "Yes, Akane?"

"Uh, well, this was the only jacket I could find in your size you will have to make it work." She handed the jacket to Ranma.

"Ooh, that color isn't really me, too bad they didn't have a red one though, I guess pink will have to do. Oh, but it will match my coveralls or is that maybe too much pink? But, Akane look at Miss. P, isn't she so Kawaii! We just have to get her please, please Akane, please?" Ranma asked clutching the stuffed piglet to her chest and putting on the I'm the cutest thing in the world face.

Akane was at a loss for words was dumbfounded and just staring at Ranma. _'This feels too much like déjà vu. I can't believe he is acting this way again, at least it won't be permanent that is at least I hope not.'_ Akane smacked her hand against her face and said. "No! Ranma you can't have it I only have just enough for the jacket."

She really wanted this stuffed piglet It was her entire world right now how could Akane tell her no? Ranma looked like she had just been slapped across the face, her mouth fell open, her eyes went wide, and she started to tear up. Yuka was watching this whole thing play out as she had seen how excited Ranma had been when she had first seen the piglet. Yuka couldn't stand it this was the first time she had seen Ranma actually happy about something. She also remembered how she had acted at the start of the day and felt ashamed Ranma clearly needed help. Yuka slowly walked over to Ranma and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Ranma, it's OK I'll buy uhh… Miss. P for you." Yuka said with a comforting smile.

"Y... yo… you… Wi… Will?" Ranma asked in between sobs as she looked up at the taller girl who nodded and said, "Ya, Ranma what are friends for?" Yuka replied with a giggle as Ranma pulled Yuka in close to give her new friend a big hug while saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

And with that, all four girls left the clothing store and starting their walk back home. Not much was said between the four girls on their trip back to the Tendo's. Ranma was too excited that she had gotten Miss. P on the trip back home to even really start a conversation. She just kept holding her Miss. P and would only look up every few minutes to make sure she didn't wander off from the other girls.

Akane was flabbergasted and felt embarrassed from the way Ranma was acting in front of her friends. ' _Ranma is supposed to be my fiancé, he shouldn't be acting like this it just feels wrong! But, I know he can't help it… it's just so weird to see him acting this way. I need to keep calm I could really hurt him well I guess her now. But, Cologne also said it would happen gradually I should call her when I get back to make sure something isn't wrong with Ranma."_

Yuka and Sayuri were happy that they came along on this trip now. Just seeing how happy Ranma was made them feel like they had done a good dead. The winds had died down on their walk back home the air was still chilly though, but not nearly as bad as it had been before they entered the clothing store. The clouds overhead were still making it look like it was later in the day than it really was, and the walk back to the Tendo's wasn't all that bad or as cold as the girls had anticipated. As the group of girls approached the Tendo's front gate Akane offered Yuka and Sayuri to come in and warm up, but Yuka and Sayuri said they needed to get back home to help their own mother's make dinner.

"See you at school tomorrow Ranma and Akane, Ja ne." Sayuri said as Yuka and her were departing from Ranma and Akane.

"Yeah, see you at school tomorrow, Ja ne." Yuka replied.

"Bai Bai!" Ranma and Akane said in unison. Akane blushed and turned away to hide her embarrassment of how Ranma just responded ' _I really need to get inside and call Cologne.'_ Akane thought. Ranma just acted like it was the most normal thing in the world as she was waving her hand bye to the departing girls and couldn't wait to see her new friends at school tomorrow.

Yuka turned to Sayuri. "Did Ranma, just say "Bai Bai?"

"I think so, tomorrow is going to be a fun day at school I can already tell." Sayuri said playfully with a grin nudging Yuka while giggling.

"You can say that again, it's never a dull moment when Ranma is involved." Yuka said as both girls giggled and continued their way back to their homes.

* * *

 **Tendo's Residence Dinner Time.**

"Tadaima... Tadaima." Ranma and Akane yelled as they entered the Tendo home.

"O-Kaeri-nasi… O-Kaeri-nasi." Nodoka and Kasumi answered back.

The usual smell of dinner being prepared in the Tendo home could create an aroma in the air as it wafted through the house carrying a heavenly scent that could lift the spirits of even the most depressed souls that have ever lived. That was usually how Kasumi's cooking would smell, but with Nodoka helping in the kitchen somehow those two could join forces to create something that should only be consumed and smelled by gods themselves. The Tendo home felt warm and inviting as always on a cold day like this. True the coldness had dropped some as the day progressed, but it was still frighteningly chilly outside. That of course just made the Tendo home that much more warm and cozy feeling.

As Akane and Ranma came into the house Akane ran off and told Ranma she needed to make a phone call. Ranma shrugged it off she was too intoxicated from the smells that were coming from the kitchen and was lost in her own world at the moment. She decided she would run upstairs to her room and put away Miss. P, and her new jacket before she would offer to help her Mom, and Kasumi in the kitchen. Nabiki was seated in front of the T.V. watching one of her favorite programs, as well as somehow reading a magazine she was holding in front of her face at the same time. Soun and Genma were seated at the Shogi board going back and forth with one another, Soun was in the lead as he was finding that he could distract his good friend Saotome, just by pointing to a different spot on the floor around the room and saying, "Look five yen" or something along those lines. Meanwhile, Ranma's nose had brought her walking into the kitchen to follow that heavenly scent.

"Oh, hi Ranma-chan, I see your stomach has carried you into the kitchen as always." Kasumi said as she noticed Ranma almost comically floating into the kitchen as if she was being help up and carried in by her nostrils alone.

Ranma shook her head to gather herself, "Hai, Kasumi-neechan, would it be all right if I helped?" Ranma asked pleadingly.

"Well, dear I don't know if that would be wise." Nodoka interjected. It was still hard for her to let go and drop the whole man among men thing. Ranma slowly turned to exit the kitchen with a defeated expression on her face.

Kasumi beamed as she got called neechan almost like she was Ranma's older sister and she also noticed the disappointed look on Ranma's face. She knew she had to act fast. "Ranma wait." Kasumi called stopping Ranma in her tracks as she was about to leave the kitchen. "Auntie, Ranma has always been a big help in the kitchen. Don't you remember just how good she was when Ranko was helping you?"

"Mother, I promise I won't get in the way, everything just smells so good I would really like to learn how to make myself more useful in the kitchen." Ranma felt the need to reassure her mother as she walked further into the kitchen.

Nodoka finally remembered the fact that this was now her daughter and would indeed need to learn more about cooking as she would be female for the rest of her life. "Well, dear I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to lear-" Nodoka was cut short as Genma ran into the kitchen screaming, "What are you going on about boy! No son of mine is going to know his way around a kitchen if I have anything to say about it!" as he grabbed Ranma by the shoulder to force his child out of the kitchen, but was cut short as he heard the shing of metal behind him and felt cold steel press firmly against his neck.

"Well, dear, it's a good thing you don't have a say so, now isn't it come here Ranma." Ranma was released from her father's grasp as Genma was frozen from shock and fear as his nightmares of the seppuku contract he had over the past ten plus years came rolling back into his mind. Nodoka turned her attention to her daughter as she walked up close to her and said, "Now, Ranma dear, after dinner me and you are going to need to have a talk about somethings. It's nothing bad and you are not in trouble I think you might actually enjoy what I have to say."

Ranma was a little shocked but also felt relieved not only had mom stood up for her against father, but she was also allowing her to help out in the kitchen. ' _Man, today just keeps getting better and better."_ She thought to herself. "Um, yes Mother." Kasumi ushered Ranma over to get an apron and to show her a few things then set her up at a station of her own.

Nodoka turned her attention back to Genma who was still reliving his nightmare in his mind. "Now Genma, while we are going through this… time in our lives Ranma will belong to me and be under my wing so to speak. You had over ten years to have our son to yourself. Now it is my turn for me to spend some time with our… child. Do I make myself clear, Husband?"

"Very clear No-Chan." Genma said with a worried voice. Nodoka slowly released her blade from Genma's neck and said, "Very good Husband, you can go now." Genma left the kitchen and went back to the shogi board with Soun. While Nodoka took over Kasumi's position at guiding Ranma in the kitchen. Ranma didn't need much guiding along she was a fast learner after all that would never change.

It was a smart idea however to leave the cutting of the fruits and vegetables to Kasumi. Neither Nodoka or Kasumi wanted to know how much of Ranma's skills had left her and with a blade in her hand trying to cut the vegetables and such in the way she used to did not seem like a good idea. They especially didn't want a knife flying through the kitchen. So, they set Ranma on the task of finishing the Miso Soup that Nodoka and Kasumi had been working on, and after they were both assured that Ranma had everything under control the three of them finished off dinner without a hitch.

* * *

 **Phone Call.**

Akane was worried that something was wrong with Ranma. He shouldn't have been acting so girly today Cologne, had told them that this would take time and shouldn't affect his personality all that much, but the way Ranma was acting was more along the lines when he had hit his head in the koi pond and believed that he had actually been a girl. Something was off and it was nagging her that was why when she got home she immediately went upstairs to away from prying ears to call Cologne to see if she knew what was going on.

The phone at the Neko Hanten began to ring as the customers were sitting at there tables enjoying their freshly made bowls of ramen. "Hello, this is the Neko Hanten, Mousse speaking how may I help you?" Mousse was the only one available to answer the phone at the moment because Shampoo was too too busy making tips and flirting with customers as she would put it, and Cologne was in the back cooking the ramen and didn't want to be bothered at the moment.

"Um, hi Mousse, this is Akane, I need to speak to Cologne this is important." Akane asked.

Mousse could hear the distraught uneasiness in Akane's voice. "Sure, Akane just one moment."

Several moments came to pass, but finally Akane was greeted with "Yes child, is something the matter Mousse told me that you needed to speak with me and you said it was important nothing has happened to Son-in… er Ranma now has it?" Cologne asked.

"Well, yes it does you see I figured since he is going to be stuck as a girl forever that he might need some help to get adjusted at school. So, I invited my friends to meet us and get ice-cream I explained the situation to them and they didn't really buy into it all that much until…" Akane sighed "Until Ranma, saw this little red stuffed piggy, and couldn't take her hands off of it, ever since then she has been acting really, really girly, and I thought you said this was not supposed to affect his er her personality all that much?" Akane waited patiently for Cologne to respond she couldn't stand the thought of Ranma being a girly girl for the rest of her life, she barely accepted the fact that Ranma was going to be a _girl_ for the rest of her life. She didn't know if she could handle this new Ranma it was too much for her to handle at the moment.

"Hmm, I'm sorry child, this must have slipped my mind Ranma's body and mind are probably just going through a bit of shock. This happens to almost all of those who have been given this sort of punishment." Cologne finally felt like her age was catching up to her how could she have let something like this slip her mind.

"What do you mean 'slip your mind?' how could you let something like this 'slip your mind' you should have warned us!" Akane screamed into the phone, but still, quiet enough where nobody in the house could hear her conversation.

"Child, you know I am over three hundred years old. It has also been well over a hundred years since I have witnessed someone receive the Guódú as punishment and for letting this slip my mind I am deeply sorry." Cologne sighed she knew she deserved the youngest Tendo's fury, but still wasn't going to take too much lip from a young child. "But, this is nothing to worry yourself over child, when Ranma wakes back up tomorrow she should be back to her arrogant self although she will remember how she acted and might be quite embarrassed." She said with a cackle.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry for snapping at you Cologne, I-I guess I will let you get back to whatever you were doing, hopefully, Ranma will be at least somewhat him er herself tomorrow." Akane said a little relieved but also worried.

"One more thing child, you can call me anytime if you see or hear anything that seems out of place with Ranma please let me know. I would hate to see anything worse happen to that child, I myself have put him through just as much suffering as the rest of you." Cologne admitted with a tinge of guilt in her voice.

"Why are you so adamant on helping Ranma now if I might ask Cologne, you always seemed to go out of your way to find way and make his life even more miserable." Akane demanded.

"Well, Child I can't help but feel a little guilty for what has happened to my dear Son-In-Law, and if I had kept a better lock on my things maybe none of this would have happened, maybe it still would have I don't know Happy was always resourceful in these kinds of ways. But the honest truth is that I did grow quite fond of Son-In-Law, that's why I taught him so many of our Amazon techniques, he was always gifted and a quick learner, he will always have a place in my heart. What I wouldn't give to have my younger body and be fighting along you girls for his hand…" Cologne trialed off, "Well we can't dwell on the past now can we, that being said I must take my leave I do have a business to run. Unless there is something else you wish to ask me, child?"

"No Cologne, thanks for your help and I will call you if anything else happens to Ranma. Ja ne." Akane replied feeling a lot better about Ranma all she had to do was get through the rest of the day how hard could that be."

Cologne cackled on the other end of the line for a minute or two before responding, "Bai bai, Child."

* * *

 **Dinner is Served.**

Akane came downstairs from her room feeling relieved that Ranma was not going to keep acting the way that she was. It would be an incredibly horrible situation to deal with on a daily basis around the house with Genma and her father, let alone when they had to go to school, or when challenges came at the doorstep. She shivered at that thought how would she handle the Kuno situation.

She looked around and saw Genma sulking at the Shogi board playing against her father. Nabiki, was still somehow watching her favorite T.V. show and reading a magazine at the same time. How her sister did that still boggled her mind. She was just about to sit down next to her sister to watch some T.V. when she heard Kasumi's voice say, "Dinner is ready." Everyone scrambled to their normal seats. Akane sat down first followed by Nabiki who sat to her right so that she could still see the T.V., her father sat at the end of the table closest to the T.V., but with his back facing the wall, Genma sat to Soun's right. Akane looked around and Ranma was nowhere to be found.

Akane looked toward Nabiki and asked, "Where's Ranma?" but Nabiki was too engrossed into her show to respond with words so she just shrugged like she didn't know, but in reality, she just didn't care enough to respond.

Genma ended up piping in with stern distasteful words saying, "The boy, is shaming his own father and acting like a weak gir-."

This was the same time that Nodoka, Kasumi, and Ranma all came out of the kitchen carrying the contents of today's dinner into the dining room. "What was that Husband, did you say that you don't want to eat dinner tonight, because if that's the case then I'm sure we can make arrangements dear?" Nodoka said as she, Ranma, and Kasumi, started laying out dinner on the table.

 _Cough_ "Um, n-no No-Chan, I was just saying how wonderful it is that our child is learning how to cook it will help out when we go on training trips in the future." Genma said weakly.

"That's good dear, I wouldn't want you to go hungry over a slip of the tongue." Nodoka replied turning to Genma with a smile that said I know what you said and I don't approve of it, while still setting everything up for dinner on the table. Nabiki heard enough to pull her attention to what was going on in front of her and gave Nodoka an approving smile then leaned into Akane and whispered, "Dang, she's good." Akane silently nodded her head in agreement towards her sister not wanting to drag too much attention her way.

As everything got set out for everyone to dig into dinner. Kasumi sat across from Soun at the other end of the table, Nodoka sat next to Genma's right as well as next to Kasumi, and Ranma took her usual spot next to Akane. As everyone put food on their plates and starting to dig in everyone's eyes started to drift toward Ranma. She wasn't eating at vacuum cleaner speeds as Ranma normally did. She was actually eating at a normal pace, but that wasn't what caught everyone off guard she was eating in a very lady-like and feminine fashion as well. Taking her time and enjoying each bite of food she was lost in her own world of happiness and you could see it plastered on that big sweet smile that she had on her face. This was until Genma reached his arm across and tried to still one of her fish causing Ranma to be jerked out of her reality and she fell backwards.

"Father, what are you doing? If you wanted some more fish all you had to do was ask I could have gotten you some." Ranma exclaimed as she was holding her bowl in her hand protectively leaning back on the floor with a shocked expression on her face.

Nodoka was furious, to say the least, "That is what I would like to know too?" She turned and shot her husband a steely gaze. "Husband dear, why are you trying to steal food from our daughter's plate?" Nodoka angrily asked Genma. "I-I uh umm, ever thing is Marti-." Was all he got out before Nodoka cut him off. "I will say this once and only once Husband, you will not steal any more food from our child's plate do I make myself clear!?" Nodoka was already getting tired of Genma antics tonight. "Y-Yes, No-Chan, very clear won't happen again." Genma then sheepishly shrunk back in his seat.

"Ah, Kasumi, Nodoka you both did excellent on dinner tonight the Miso soup is amazing!" Soun proclaimed trying to bring in a cheerful mood.

"Father, Ranma-chan mostly cooked the Miso soup all by herself we barely had to help her at all." Kasumi said giving Ranma a congratulatory smile.

"Yes, Ranma dear, was a very big help in the kitchen tonight, I'm very proud of you sweetie." Nodoka beamed.

Soun quickly swallowed a lump he felt uneasy about the situation, but for some reason found that he couldn't scold Ranma he had three daughters himself so he gave Ranma a fatherly smile while saying, "Ah, yes well Ranma, it is very good."

"I hate to admit it Saotome, but this is just as good as Kasumi's maybe even better, no offense sis." Nabiki commented before taking another spoonful to her mouth.

"None taken Ranma-chan deserves the praise she put in a lot of effort." Kasumi commented giving Ranma a slight wink before continuing to eat her own meal. Akane would have probably have said something about her fiancé being able to cook better than she did, but she was too preoccupied trying to find a situation where she could relay why Ranma was acting the way she was.

"Thanks, everybody, it was well worth the effort to watch you all enjoy it!" Ranma beamed with a big beautiful smile that would have melted even her own father's heart had he of been looking. "Well, I'm pretty full and I think I'll start to clean everything up." Ranma said getting up from her seat next to Akane and headed into the kitchen.

Once Akane heard the sounds of pots and pans being washed in the kitchen sink. It gave Akane the perfect time to explain to everyone why Ranma was acting the way she was. She told them about her phone call with Cologne, and told them that 'Ranma' should be Ranma again by tomorrow. Kasumi, was a little upset she liked how Ranma was acting and Ranma was a big help. No one ever really offered to help Kasumi around the house, and as much as she wanted Ranma to be herself again she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that this Ranma wasn't going to stay around.

Nodoka was slightly relieved but also upset it was like she had lost Ranko all over again. Genma was as happy as could be, it was almost like he had forgotten that the master punished Ranma and he really didn't have a son anymore. Soun, was just as content either way, just like Nabiki was they both liked Ranma, either way, it wasn't as if Ranma could join the school anymore anyway. Although Nabiki was sure she could make more cash off of this more feminine Ranma, maybe. They all sooner or later finished eating, the table was cleared, and all the dishes were put away. That was when Nodoka snuck up behind Ranma in the kitchen and said, "Everything seems to be in order dear, why don't we go wash up? We have much to talk about."

"What? Wash up? We're going to bathe together?" Ranma asked confused. Even though Ranma thought that she was a girly girl right now she had never bathed with her own mother before. At least not since before she left on her training trip with her father over a decade ago, and she didn't even remember any of that.

"Yes, dear, I believe the furo will be the most private part of the house." She said grabbing her daughter by her shoulders and guiding her to the stairs before turning around and shooting Nabiki and Genma a steely gaze while saying. "We just need to make sure we lock the door behind us." Then the mother, daughter duo continued the way to the bathroom and made sure to lock the door behind themselves.

* * *

 **The Furo (Mother, Daughter Talk)**

As Ranma, entered the bathroom with her mother she felt shy, uneasy, and on edge. She saw her own mother start to undress and quickly turned to look at the corner of the wall like it was the most interesting thing in the world. While Nodoka continued to undress, she undid the sash on her blue Kimono and laid it to the side. She slowly took slipped out of her Kimono and it fell to the ground. Nodoka then proceeded to pick it up, gently folding it neatly from years of experience, and laid it to the side for when she got out of the bath. Nodoka, was excited she had always wished to have a daughter of her own one that she could have all the mother-daughter moments with, to go shopping with her, teach her flower arranging, be there for her when she had boy troubles, take her through bridal training, and she was even looking forward to having those delicate and personnel feminine talks.

But, she had a son, not that she didn't like her son she loved her son more than anything in the world. That was her child, her one an only baby she would ever have. It was a miracle she even had Ranma, the doctors were even shocked that she carried him throughout all three trimesters. The Doctors, told her after Ranma was born that there was no possible way for her to have another child, the damage had been done to her, but she was still happy she had gotten a child of her own a beautiful baby boy named Ranma.

That didn't stop her and Genma from trying to have another child for the next five years before they left on their training trip. It would have been so much easier for her over the last decade had she of had another child to keep her from being so lonely. She had prayed every night since Ranma had left to keep Ranma safe, make Ranma strong, and then she would pray for a daughter. It appeared the gods have answered all of her prayers, they kept Ranma safe he was in one piece, healthy, and full of life. No one could argue that Ranma 'was' one of the strongest martial artists in the world. But, her last prayer was answered as well, she now had a daughter even if it was Ranma that had become her daughter she didn't care she would treat Ranma, all the same as if she was born a girl alltogether.

She knew Ranma wasn't in a good state of mind, but she had thought about that already she figured that this Ranma would be more forward with emotions and might be easier to get the answered that she wished to get out of her. This more girly and feminine Ranma still had all of Ranma's memories after all so the best person to get a straightforward answer from would be from this girl that was standing behind her staring at the corner of the room still fully clothed.

"Ranma dear is something the matter there is no reason to be shy we are both girls and your my daughter after all." Nodoka said gently smiling, she was fully naked now and staring at her daughter.

"I... I…, Um, I know Mother, it's just that I have never bathed with other girls, or even with you before." Ranma replied sheepishly, still staring at the wall it was most interesting at this time of night for some reason.

"When you were a baby Ranma, who do you think bathed you? When, you grew older who do you think got you into the bath to make sure you were clean?" Nodoka, walked up placing her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "You may not remember Ranma, but we have bathed together many times. I know where your birthmark is and what it looks like, I know my child like the back of my hand, and I am your mother. I know you may be shy, but there really is no reason to be. Now hurry up and get undressed dear, and that is an order." Nodoka may have said it was an order but the way she said it made Ranma feel good to have her mother there and reassure her about things.

Ranma turned to face her mother and shot her a bright smile then said, "Your right Mother, I'm just being silly aren't I… I mean you are my mom I don't know why I was even shy in the first place." Ranma then quickly moved the straps of her coveralls off to the side and shimmied out of the pink material that had "China" on the front in big bold letters. She threw off the orange shirt she wore, and soon enough she was just as naked as her mother.

"Good dear, now let's clean up before we enter the furo and start out little talk." Nodoka opened the separating door to the furo room and motioned for the redhead to join her.

"Hai!" The now joyful and relaxed redhead responded and joined her mother closing the door behind them both.

Nodoka and Ranma had both pulled out separate stools and buckets. They threw the cold water over their own heads and got all lathered up to take away the filth after the long day. Before long the furo was filled with nice hot water that was steaming up the entire room they were in. Making it that much more relaxing for the redhead. There is nothing like being in a warm room after being out in the cold all day on top of having cold water thrown on top of yourself to clean up. Whatever uneasiness was left in the redhead quickly left her as soon as she and her mother lowered themselves into the inviting embrace that was the warm waters of the furo.

Ranma let out a sigh of pleasure as the warm water she was entering slowly rose to encapsulate her entire being. The warm water that surrounded her seemed to take everything off her mind. She felt as though she was floating and nothing could touch her, her mother was there with her of course, but her mother's presence was soothing to her calming even it made her feel even more relaxed. She eventually laid her head back on the edge of the furo and closed her eyes trying to take in this moment as best as she could.

Nodoka let out a slight giggle watching her daughter go from being so stiff and shy to completely sprawled out relaxing in the furo with her head leaning back on the edge.

This caused Ranma, to snap out of her little daydream of relaxation, "Huh, what so funny Mother?" Ranma asked opening her eyes and lifting her head up from the edge of the furo. Her mom who was sitting across from her with an amused and happy look on her face.

Nodoka waved her hand, "Nothing dear, now how about we have our little chat?" she hummed "I have always wondered what all of your fiancée's mean to you. Do you love any of them?" Nodoka finished she had always wanted to have an honest answer to this question, but her son always seemed to dance around it, and if what Akane said was right maybe she could get a more honest answer out of her child.

Ranma had a perplexed look as if her mother had just asked her the stupidest question in the world before it melted away entirely, and she saw her mother's expression she could tell her mother was serious about this. "Well, to be honest, I don't like any of them." She sighed, "I don't know why Father, would engage his only daughter to so many women, but even though he is an idiot, I still love him." Ranma said running her fingers across the top of the furo while looking down at the water.

"I will agree with you dear, your father is an idiot." She paused with a regretful sigh, "and I am glad that throughout all this you still find it in your heart to love him." Nodoka then gave her daughter an apologetic and happy smile. "But, I really wanted to know how you feel about each one of them I believe there are three or four of them correct, I only know of Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo, but I have heard rumors of a fourth?" she finally asked.

"Hai, Mother there are technically three of them with real engagements, but there is another one that pursues me as well." She said regretfully "I guess, I can start with the fourth one. Her name is Kodachi and she just saw me one day and started calling me her 'Ranma Darling' she is a total loon, uses poisons, and all kinds of chemicals to drug people I can't stand her and try to avoid her at all costs. Then there is Ucchan, I thought she was a boy when I was younger and we were really good friends then as well. But, things changed because of father, now she is almost as bad as the others. But, sometimes there are moments where we are back to the old ways and we are friends again like when I go over during her dinner or lunch rush we can always talk about things like normal people. The situation changes once I'm at school or even just walking around though…" She sighed, "she can come out of nowhere and surprise me. She always has food with her so I can't refuse it, but Akane always gets angry about that. That's about it on Ucchan I don't love her though if that's what you're asking that would just be wrong to me. I would say she is more like a friend or a sister to me." Ranma replied as her mother decided to step in to say something.

"Well, I guess I should tell you that Cologne, called off the Kiss of Death and the Kiss of Marriage from you…" She trailed off remembering they couldn't let Ranma know that the pill was permanent yet, so before Ranma could respond, "She said that she felt responsible that Happosai was able to get his hands on this secret Amazon recipe to make the pill, so she declared boss kisses to be null and void." ' _good save Nodoka, good save.'_ She cheered herself on inside.

"Wow, I never would have thought Cologne would give up claims to me that took a big weight off my shoulders. So, I guess that just leaves Akane?" She paused and placed a finger on her chin to think before looking back at her mother to say, "Hmm, well I have to say out of all my fiancées, Akane is the most bull-headed, irrational, and quick-tempered one of them all. She can't cook, she can't clean very well, and she is clumsy as all get out."

She paused with a sigh and looked back down at the water again, "But, she is also always there for me when I need her to be, she seems to always since when I need to be left alone to give me time to think about things, and as much as she would deny it I know her door is always open to me if I ever need someone to talk to. She is kind, considerate, and always fun to get along with when she isn't in a rage-induced temper tantrum that is. But, like I said with Ucchan, Akane, is more or less a friend to me and nothing more. I think her temper towards me would go away if Father and Uncle Tendo, weren't pushing the engagements down our throats every second of every day." She said with anger but it quickly passed with the last comment, "We could become actually be really close friends I think."

"Well dear, I believe I have heard enough. How about I do you a little favor seeing as how I am in charge and have been in charge of the family since you and your father have been on your training trip I will postpone all engagements until you say so." Nodoka said sternly.

Ranma looked at her mother like she couldn't believe it was happening, she looked dumbfounded, then excited before asking, "Really Mother, you can do that? Th-That would be wonderful I can't Thank you enough." She immediately grinning at her mother with her deep blue sapphire eyes slightly tearing up.

"Why yes dear, I will get to work on it tomorrow. Now, why don't we get out of this bath before we turn into wrinkly old prunes shall we?" Nodoka and her daughter got out of the Furo and dried off with their towels before dawning some bathrobes and exiting to the guest room to get dressed in some sleepwear. Ranma got dressed in the only sleep wear she knew which was a pair of boxers and a white muscle shirt. While Nodoka dawned some blue pajamas that had pink cherry blossoms that seemed to be scattered across them. Nodoka noticed her daughter staring at her like she wanted to ask a question or something was on her mind before asking, "What is dear, is something wrong?"

"It's just you look so pretty, and I wish I had some clothes like yours is all…" Ranma turned to look back at her clothing drawers that were filled to the brim with nothing but mainly boy's clothes or overly feminine clothes that she would be too embarrassed to wear herself.

Nodoka was beaming with joy and so excited she was going to get to take her daughter on a shopping trip all she had to do was ask, "dear, would you like to go shopping after school tomorrow we could buy you a whole new wardrobe, and anything else that you might fancy, oh it will be so much fun." She felt like a teenager again and giggled slightly.

If Nodoka's beaming with joy was any comparison to Ranma, it would be put to shame. She was jumping up and down and ran to her mother to give her a great big hug. "I would love to." She said as some tears of joy ran down her face before whispering just loud enough for her mother to hear, "I love you, Mother." And, then hugged her mother even tighter.

That melted Nodoka's heart and the mother-daughter duo sobbed tears of joy. This is everything Nodoka had dreamed of this is what she had wanted from Ranko. She had planned on trying to adopt Ranko from the Tendo's, but as she was about to ask for permission she found out about her son's curse and her heart shattered to pieces along with her plans.

It wasn't like she truly lost Ranko she was really her son after all. But, she couldn't do all of the things she had planned to do with Ranko, because Ranko was really her son who was bound by a seppuku contract to be a 'man among men.' She couldn't bear the thought of her son having to end his own life, and lying about the curse and doing all of the girly things would have put a lot of stress on her. She didn't want to lose her son to some stupid contract, but if her son could no longer be her son then the contract was null and void and this Ranma in front of her has no identity she is free to do as she pleases. This situation might just be a blessing in disguise she mussed to herself.

"Ranma one more thing you remember the Seppuku contract don't you." She asked looking down at her daughter that she was still holding.

Ranma quickly broke free from her mother's embrace taking a few steps back and looked at the ground before saying in an emotionless tone of voice, "Yes, Mother, I'm sorry I shouldn't have been crying like that it won't happen again."

"No dear." She ran and brought her daughter back into a motherly embrace before saying, "It's alright to show some emotion from time to time especially now given certain circumstances." She then gingerly grabbed her daughter by the shoulders then took her daughters chin in her hand so they were looking at each other eye to eye before speaking again, "I have decided that the Seppuku contract no longer pertains to you. You and Genma are free from it now and forever, consider it completed."

Ranma was completely stunned by yet another onslaught of good news. "Really? You…you really mean that mother?" Ranma asked while wiping a tear of joy from her eye, but never losing eye contact with her mother.

"Yes, I would never lie to you, that stupid contract has done nothing but drive you and Genma further and further away from me. I am ashamed it took me over a decade to see that, but you should get some sleep dear, you have had a long hard day today, and you will need your rest for our shopping trip tomorrow."

"Hai Mother." Ranma beamed. Nodoka hugged her daughter one more time before walking her over to the futon. Ranma climbed in and Nodoka carefully tucked her daughter into bed. Ranma was lying in her futon fully tucked in with Miss. P snuggled up against her. She never took her eyes off of her mother as she was walking to the door and stopped. Nodoka took one last look at her daughter this would probably be the last time she would see this girl, she knew Ranma would hold true to all of the promises made. She was assured that Ranma would remember everything from what Akane said, and she could tell that everything Akane had told her at dinner was true so far, this girl, her daughter, had all the memories of her son. That was enough to set her mind at peace. She said to her daughter who was watching her this whole time, "Goodnight dear if you need anything you know me and your father will be sleeping in the dojo."

"Goodnight, Mother, I love you see you in the morning!" Ranma exclaimed and then snuggled up to her Miss. P.

With that Nodoka, turned off the light and said a last, "I love you too." Then turned and closed the door behind her. She walked all the way down the stairs ignoring anyone and everyone as she walked by. She continued her entire path in silence as she walked down the walkway that connected the house to the dojo. She completely ignored the cold chilly winds that were still in the air as she was entirely left without emotion. That was until she entered dojo and rain began to slowly fall from the sky ever so slightly picking up more and more. It started with only a few drops making the ever so slight t'k sound on the roof of the dojo, but it slowly picked up pace as she climbed into her futon on the dojo floor.

Then just as she broke down into a fit of tears the heavens sent down a torrential downpour there were a few leaks in the dojo's roof and they made themselves known to her. As she watched the water from the heavens slowly drip onto the floor only a few feet away from her, Nodoka was utterly and completely sad. Everything Akane has said was true, so she knew come morning that sweet innocent child would no longer exist. The sweet and innocent child that could have been hers had she of had a daughter, that child who deserved a chance to live, but by no means even existed.

That person is just a piece of her son turned daughter, and she was more determined than ever to make sure that her daughter will become the happiest and most cared for child around, she would make sure that her Husband knew his place, and most of all Ranma would become whoever Ranma wanted to be. Nodoka tears may have started out in sadness, but they grew into tears of joy she couldn't help but wonder what kind of person her daughter would become. The next chapter in her daughter's life might be hard, but she would be there for support. Nodoka cried herself to sleep that night, but the only dreams she had was of how happy she and her daughter were going to be on the shopping trip tomorrow.

* * *

 **The Guest Room.**

Ranma was snuggled up to Miss. P just about to fall asleep on her futon. She was a very happy and content girl right at this moment. She had a mother who seems to only be interested in her well-being, not her trying to be something some stupid contract said she should be. She had hoped she made some friends today in Yuka and Sayuri. Yuka had even bought her Miss. P. ' _How could we not be friends?'_ she thought to herself as she pulled the blanket up closer to her and snuggled up to Miss. P even more.

She had helped cooked a meal for her family and everyone seemed to enjoy it and even praised her for it in the end. If the little redhead in the room could use a Ki attack at the moment it would be a Ki attack made of sheer and utter bliss one manufacture from the sheer and utter happiness she was feeling at the moment. Nothing could break her from this feeling or so she thought. Until the rain picked up, and the winds howled around the house snapping the redhead out of her sleepy mood. Her eyes immediately shot open and she squeezed Miss. P even tighter. ' _I'm fine it's just the rain... It's just the rain and some wind it's nothing…'_ She kept telling herself over and over again like a mantra and it worked for a while.

Until lighting struck down and the loud rumble of the earth frightened the girl. She jumped to her feet and out of her futon as she was hugging Miss. P, and clenched her eyes shut as much as possible. She was facing the window of the guest room while she slowly walked backwards to the door. Ever so slowly she also began to crack open her right eye. When she finally managed to do so she saw another large flash of light shoot through the room from the window and at that very same moment something that looked like a giant arm smacked against the window just as the loud thunder rumbled throughout the house. This caused Ranma to swing the door to the guest room open and she only knew of one place she could go where she didn't have to go outside in the storm.

Akane was just about to fall asleep herself when the storm came and woke her up as well, but she was trying to ignore it to go to her slumber. That was until she heard repeated knocking at her door.

Akane wondered who would be knocking at her door at this time of night, so she quickly grabbed her bokken that she had hidden under her bed to be ready for anything. She did live in Nerima after all and this could be Kodachi trying some new way to poison her, but Kodachi normally just appears from somewhere hidden not trying to give away her location. Maybe it could be P-Chan, but P-Chan can't knock on a door he doesn't even have hands. She knew it wasn't either of her sisters they definitely wouldn't be up this late at night. "Who is there?" She ended up asking sternly as she approached her door wielding her bokken nearly as good as Kuno.

"A-akane?" She heard a sweet and frightened voice answer back to her.

"Ranma!?" ' _Why would he be here? Oh, kami-sama please tell me this isn't happening again..."_ Akane thought.

Akane slowly cracked the door open and lowered her bokken. She was right it was Ranma standing in front of her doorway clutching Miss. P and looking terribly frightened. "What's wrong? It's the middle of the night." Akane asked.

"I-I'm s-scared." Ranma replied sheepishly while clutching Miss. p even tighter as she brought the stuffed animal closer to her face.

"What!" Akane exclaimed.

"Mother and Father are sleeping in the dojo, and the storm Akane-san I'm… I'm…I'm." Ranma started trembling and couldn't finish that sentence. Ranma raised her head and quilty asked, "A… A… Akane, m-may I s-sleep with you?"

"I can't believe this is happening again." Akane mumbled to herself before looking at the frightened redhead in front of her and saying, "Okay, Ranma, but only for tonight."

"Thank you." The trembling redhead said before entering Akane's room. Akane set up Ranma with a makeshift futon that she usually kept put away unless her friends Yuka and Sayuri would come over for sleepovers and other such things. Ranma had her head resting on the big white frilly pillow and had her arms wrapped around Miss. P who was snuggled up against her. Ranma slowly calmed down after feeling safe in Akane's room and having someone there with her made her feel even more protected.

Ranma ended up breaking the silence after she stopped trembling, "Akane, are you still awake?" She asked barely above a whisper.

Akane was indeed awake she couldn't help but feel a little bit freaked out that this was happening again so she let out a big sighed before responding, "Yes, Ranma I'm still up is there something that you need."

"I-I just wanted to let you know that I am glad that you allowed me to come in, here again, it means a lot to me. Thank you." Ranma replied.

Akane was about to respond when she realized that Ranma had said 'again' _'What did Ranma mean by again. I have never let Ranma in here before at night time except when he thought he was a girl. Don't tell me that. No, it can't be that, can it? That's impossible!'_ Akane thought before rolling over to look at Ranma and asking in a sincere tone of voice "Ranma, what did you mean by _again_?"

"Akane, I don't know how or why I'm back again. I remembered that last time I came in here scared I didn't wake back up as myself at least. I don't know what happened, the last thing I remember is coming in here and going to sleep." Ranma sat up and turned to look at Akane, "Akane, I'm the same person who woke up when I got that blow to the head. You took me shopping with you to cheer me up after I found out I could turn into a boy. Then we went to go get ice cream after when we got home me and you had a lot of fun cooking dinner with Kasumi, even though you weren't very good at it." Ranma giggled, "I Just wanted to let you know that I don't think I'm going to be here tomorrow if the same thing happens again, but I'm glad I got one more day to live this life even though it may not be mine to live. I wanted to thank you Akane for being a friend to me when even my own father was acting like I wasn't his..."

"Ranma, I-I'm Sorry." Akane began to tear up a little it was like watching someone on their deathbed. It brought back memories of seeing her own mother.

"Akane don't be sad, I'm still here, Ranma I guess the real Ranma will be here and I am apart of him, so don't cry. You have done nothing but bring happiness to me. I got to see my mother and she loved me back, just as much as I loved her. I guess what I'm trying to say is that today is the best day of my life, and I just want it to end on a good note." Ranma wiped a tear from her eye and look directly at Akane, "Good Night, Akane, and thanks for being my friend." The redhead girl then turned over facing away from Akane snuggling up to her stuffed animal.

"I-I-I don't know what to say?" Akane asked on the verge of tears.

"Just say goodnight silly, this will be a perfect end to a perfect day."

"O… o… okay, g…goodnight, Ranma." Akane said between sniffles as she too turned over trying to take her mind off of the girl who wouldn't be their come morning that girl was just one piece of a whole Akane kept telling herself, and if Ranma has something that sweet and innocent in him. Then maybe she could help him bring it out a little.

Both of them fell asleep, both of them fully content and dreaming happily, but both of them would not truly wake up tomorrow one of them wouldn't truly exist anymore.

* * *

 **A/N: Please leave a Review if you want too. Ryoga will be in the next chapter for anyone that was wondering this is just the beginning and for anyone who wants to get mad that I took away Ranma's ability to fight she will be getting it back I promise. I also had to overpower Happosai in order for this story to work. This is slightly A/U and Nodoka knows about Ranma's curse as I am sure you have figured out, but the events at Phoenix mountain did not happen or haven't happened yet.**


	2. Operation Ranma's Feminization

Ranma's Punishment or is it?

Chapter 2: Operation Ranma's Feminization

A blue-eyed redheaded girl awoke from her slumber. The last thing she remembered was going to sleep in Akane's room the night before. Now, where was she? She sat up on her futon rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The first thing she noticed as she took in a good look from her surroundings was that she was laying on top of her futon in the sand with a few palm tree's scattered around her. She could hear the sounds of seagulls and waves crashing on the shore, and the smell of salt and the ocean permeated the air as well.

Turning her head as she looked across the white sandy beach she saw the sight of the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen. The sun was sending out the most magnificent hues of reds and oranges as it was slowly taking it's decent at the edge of the world. It scared her at first being somewhere she knew she didn't belong, but then she rose to face the readers.

"Oh, I-I guess I'm not dead so worry about me OK?" She began to speak, "I mean it was scary going to sleep not knowing, but that wasn't really my life to live anyway... Oh yeah, the reason I'm here. Uhh... the writer wanted me to tell you guys and gals how sorry he was that the first chapter had so many mistakes, and hopefully this one won't be as bad…"

"Where the hell am I now!"

The redheaded girl blinked at the sight of a dark-haired boy with fangs, wearing a yellow shirt, dark green pants, and had a travel-pack on his back. He was holding a map out in front of himself scratching his head looking seriously confused. "Ryoga?" she asked.

The lost boy tore his gaze away from the map he was holding to lay his eyes upon a disheveled looking redhead. She was wearing nothing but a white muscle shirt and some boxer shorts, and somehow she was still the most beautiful women he had ever seen. "Ranma? What are you doing in Maui?" He asked.

She walked up to him nervously. "Call me Ranko, and were not in Maui..." She looked around, "Well at least I don't think we are..." She turned her attention back to him, "Wait... what are you doing here this is supposed to be an apology from the author?"

He looked at her in confusion. "Author? What?" He blinked at her, "look whatever I don't care Ranko I finally found you."

Ryoga dropped to one knee and pulled out a little black box from his pocket holding it out to the girl in front of him. "Ranko, I-I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I can't bear to live another second without you by my side." He paused looking like he was about to faint as he swallowed a lump in his throat, "S-so, will you Saotome Ranko, p-please marry me?"

"Ye… Yes!" She said as she wiped away a few tears of joy, "I-I love you Ryoga!" She exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck kissing him passionately. After they broke the kiss to come up for air he slipped the ring on her finger, lifted her up bridal style, and then walked off into the sunset disappearing from view.

Hiroshi stood there scratching the top of his head as he watched the happy couple walk off. "Damn I guess if you want to do something right you gotta do it yourself."

 **A/N: I deeply apologize for the run-on sentences and other such things that a reviewer brought to my attention. I have to say these have always been a problem for me, and I am trying to work on it. Although it was not a very nice review it was a very honest one and I see what he is talking about. So, hopefully, this chapter is better. I would also like to thank everyone else who left a positive review it helped me work even harder rewriting this chapter. I also felt really bad about kind of killing someone, so as you can see from above her and Ryoga are very happy together. I have to say I am trying my hardest to keep the characters as in character as possible, but with that being said it wouldn't be any fun if they always acted the same as they did in the manga or anime. It's just too much fun to change things up a bit.**

 **Special thanks to: Littlegamer1313, gsteemso, Luger 7, Screaming Dean, Ashe, and an unknown guest's who left reviews for me to work with.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma** ½ **in any way shape or form and I am not trying to use this to make any money. Ranma** ½ **is owned by Rumiko Takahashi and not by me.**

* * *

Ranma's Punishment or is it?

Chapter 2: Operation Ranma's Feminization

"Akane, hey Akane, wake up." Whispered a sweet and innocent voice.

Akane blinked open her eyes trying to look around she could see that that sun hadn't even risen yet. Her room was so dark she couldn't make out the figure in front of her at all. She decided she should see what time it is at least while glancing at her alarm clock she could see that it was 4:30 am. _'What! Honestly, why would someone try to wake me up right now it's so early, I'm just going to roll over and ignore them.'_ She then felt something grab her shoulder and began to shake her gently trying to pull her from her from her slumber.

In a hushed tone of voice, the figure spoke once more. "Akane, hey Akane, wake up we need to talk."

Groaning Akane rolled back over to face the figure that was trying to wake her from her slumber. She creaked her eyes open once more, and she could finally see who the figure was. "Auntie? What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No, dear, nothing is wrong and try and be quit Ranma is still asleep try not to wake her. Now come on your sisters are waiting downstairs." Nodoka whispered.

"Alright?" Akane groaned questioningly, as she quietly got out of bed. Her room was so dark she could barely see the redhead sleeping on her floor all sprawled out with Miss. P still clutched in one arm. She snuck out of her room following Nodoka downstairs. As she was walking down the stairs the first thing she saw a ragged Nabiki sitting at the dining room table nursing a cup of coffee still in her pajamas. Kasumi was sitting there as well looking beautiful and ready for the day. You wouldn't even be able to tell that Kasumi had just gotten out of bed if it wasn't for the pink pajamas she was wearing. As Akane and Nodoka reached the bottom of the stairs Nabiki spoke up before Akane could say anything, "Hey, sis, did Auntie, tell you why we're all here?"

Akane was still stopped at the bottom of the stairs leaving one hand on the handrail and rubbing her eyes with the other before responding. "No, Auntie just woke me up what's going on?" Nodoka merely continued walking and sat down on the opposite side of the table of Nabiki.

"Oh, well." Nabiki grew a mischievous grin then held up her coffee towards Akane like a toast before finishing, "Welcome to Operation Ranma's Feminization, sis."

"Oh, my this is going to be fun." Kasumi giggled.

"Take a seat dear, we have a lot of planning to do." Nodoka commanded, and motion Akane to sit next to her.

* * *

"Ranma, wake up."

Ranma awoke with a groan as she thought, _'Man that was a messed up dream... well it was a nice until pig breath showed up proposed and kissed me ugh that was...'_ Her thoughts trailed off as her dreamed slowly escaped her mind.

She was trying to creak open her eyes as the light from the window was blinding at first, but after several blinks, she was able to make out what was in front of her. There was a white bookshelf almost right in front of her face. She could see that the walls of the room were white as well, but old and worn down over some years of use. She could see the blue carpets which should have been hardwood. She stretched her body pushing her arms upwards until she hit something with her left hand. She turned to see that it was a purple desk chair she blinked a few times before seeing a person standing over her. ' _OK, where am I white bookcase, blue carpets, and purple desk chair. Wait that means I'm in...'_

Scrambling to her feet she ran backwards to the corner of the room waving her hands in front of her defensively exclaiming, "Akane I'm sorry, I don't know how I got in here I swear, I swear!"

"Are you sure about that Ranma, think long and hard?" Akane said with her hands on her hips and a smile plastered on her face.

"NO! Akane I don't know I promise!" Ranma proclaimed.

' _Cologne said she would remember everything that happened yesterday, maybe she just needs something to trigger her memory'_ Akane thought. "Hey Ranma, do you remember what that is." She pointed at an abandoned red stuffed piggy that was laying on the ground beside where Ranma was sleeping.

"What, that's just Miss. P, what does she have to do with anyth…" Ranma trailed off as her eyes went wide and her face turned a deep shade of crimson. The embarrassment and shock of yesterday's events came back into her mind in a flurry. Akane, couldn't help but fall into a fit of laughter as she saw the look and emotions play out on Ranma's face.

"Akane! THIS AIN'T FUNNY!" Ranma screamed, "why did I act like that did I take another blow to the head or somethin?"

"Kind of, something like that, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. If anything, it probably helped things in your case." Akane replied.

"Huh? How could it have helped things?" Ranma groaned as she buried her head in her hands and slid down the wall ending up in a seated position.

"Umm, well the first thing is I have never seen your mom happier. The 'you' from yesterday must have made quite an impression. The second thing is she seems to have let go all of that manly man stuff. Third thing is that other you convinced Yuka and Sayuri to help us at school. Which will be a big help once you get into gym class. And, the last things is we get to go on a shopping trip today after school!" Akane said the last bit sarcastically.

Ranma smacked her forehead, "Aww, man I forgot about that promise dangit." Ranma sighed, "I guess it's not so bad then no one saw me acting that way except you guys, Yuka and Sayuri?"

"Yup and, now that you're all caught up you want to go jogging with me?" Akane asked, "I don't really think sparing with your father would be a great idea in your condition right now Ranma."

Ranma grumbled something under her breath then answered, "Yeah, I guess I'll have to if I want to stay in shape." Ranma rose up from her seated position before she caught something Akane threw at her.

"You might want to wear those instead of your boxers Ranma. Have you ever run long distances in your girl-form while wearing boxers?" Akane asked watching the redhead glare at the panties she was holding out in front of her like they were some kind of hated enemy.

"No, and I don't care I ain't wearing these things I don't care what happens I'm a guy dammit!" Ranma proclaimed throwing the panties on Akane's bed.

"Fine, I'll bet you won't even be able to finish the run before you have to stop and readjust yourself." She paused then added, "If you're wearing boxers Ranma, then if you _do_ have to stop. You have to wear panties until you can change back." Akane said sternly. ' _sometimes this stuff is too easy'_ Akane thought.

"Is that a challenge!" Ranma beckoned with a fist.

"Sure, if you want to think of it that way."

"Then you're on, Akane, you know I never lose!" Ranma started laughing.

' _I wouldn't get so cocky too soon Ranma, and damn Nabiki's plan actually worked I would never have thought he would agree to that.'_ Akane thought, "Here you can wear one of my jogging outfits, too it helps you sweat, you know better for exercise." Akane threw Ranma one of her blue jogging outfits.

"Hey, that's a good idea Akane, maybe you're not so stupid after all." Ranma teased while holding up the one-piece jogging suit in front of her.

' _Don't let her get to you Akane, calm down, calm down.'_ She told herself in her head trying to keep from summoning her mallet. "Whatever Ranma, just get dressed so we can hurry back, maybe we can get a sparring session in after our jog and still make it to school on time." Ranma's eyes lit up at that idea.

* * *

After the storm blew through the night before the streets were covered in puddles that reflected the sky above. The sun was barely poking out over the edge of the earth but it was just enough to beam light across all of Nerima. There were a lot of clouds that were scattered across the sky this morning, but not enough to completely cover it. The storm must have been caused by a front of warm air that moved in the night before. The feeling of being outside was sticky and humid, to say the least, and with two girls going out for a jog one of them was going to have a hard time.

Akane and Ranma left the Tendo's front gate and set off on their way coming around the first corner just about a hundred yards away from where they departed. Both girls stayed side by side neither showing any signs of fatigue or even a sweat drop. Coming around corner two still nothing, turning down corner three sweat had started to build slowly over both of their brows and trickling down their faces. About ten minutes into their run they turned down the forth corner and one of the girls faces began to turn red, but she continued to go on. The redness building and her pace slowed slightly trying to force her way to finish so she wouldn't have to lose the challenge. Turning down the fifth corner Akane noticed Ranma's face tightening and her steps became closer and closer together. Halfway from to the fifth corner Akane heard a yelp and stopped to see Ranma standing beside her in the middle of the road with her knees together. Her face was as red as a beat as she was angrily trying to readjust her preferred choice of undergarments.

Akane giggled at the sight in front of her for a few second before speaking, "I told you Ranma, you can't wear those if you have to be a girl."

"Yeah-Yeah, laugh it up tomboy, you win alright!" Ranma retorted angrily, "you could 'a just told me this was gonna happen." As she crossed her arms beneath her breasts and angrily.

"Honestly you wouldn't have believed me Ranma, let's hurry and get back so we have time to spar and get cleaned up before breakfast." Akane paused then turned to nudge Ranma, "and, _you_ have to change when we get back, you don't want that to happen while were sparing do you?"

Ranma opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out. She closed it than merely drooped her head in defeat. She did not want what had just happened to happen again as long as she could avoid it, and if that meant having to wear female undergarments while she was like this than she was all for it. _'It's not like anyone will be able to see I'm wearing it it's not like a bra or somethin.'_ She thought to herself.

"Tadaima!" Ranma and Akane said as they entered the Tendo's home one strong and vibrant and the other weak and filled with disappointment.

"O-kaeri-nasai" Nodoka and Kasumi yelled out from the kitchen.

Nodoka came around the corner exiting the kitchen to greet the two girls. She saw Ranma bolt upstairs before she could say anything. She merely walked over to Akane and asked her, "How did it go did it work dear?" in a hushed secret whisper.

"Hai, it worked like a charm Auntie, Ranma ran upstairs to go change into something more 'comfortable.'" She said doing air quotes with her fingers and a smile on her face.

"Yes dear, I was hoping the jogging suits and this weird warmer weather we're having would be enough. I still wasn't sure if it would work given how often Ranma has fought in his girl-form before though." Nodoka replied smiling at the younger girl.

"But, like Nabiki said, Ranma has always had to fight or have something else distract her from that happening, and she didn't wear jogging suits built to make you sweat like a faucet." Akane responded with a grin. ' _Or make her boxers ride up.'_ She added mentally.

About this time Ranma came down the stairs wearing her usual Chinese red shirt and black pants, with an unusual and satisfactory look on her face. This made Akane and Nodoka worried maybe Ranma had gone back on her word.

"Ranma! Did you even change!" Akane shouted.

"Now dear, Akane just told me about your challenge you didn't go back on your word now did you?" Nodoka asked sternly.

"What! You told her?" Ranma narrowed her eyes at Akane before turning back to her mother "Ugh, no mom, I didn't back out on my word I change I'm wearing…" Ranma gulped she had to admit it to her mother, "Panties." She said in defeat, "but, you know actually they're not as bad as I thought, I have just as much movement as I did before, and It's actually more comfortable than I would have guessed." Ranma said with a grin.

Nodoka and Akane both face faulted this was not the reaction they were expecting at all, but they recovered quickly. "Well… I guess I'm going to go change into my gi. I'll meet you in the dojo Ranma." Akane said before she ran up the stairs.

"And, I'm glad of your new discovery dear, but I have to go back and help Kasumi get breakfast ready." She gave her daughter a quick hug and turned back into the kitchen. As Ranma made her way out to the dojo Nabiki slowly followed her inside.

* * *

Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki were all in the dojo. Ranma and Akane were facing each other in the middle of the room, while Nabiki was seated off to the side. This irked Ranma, Nabiki never showed any interest in martial arts why would she now. "What are _you_ doing here?" She pointed to Nabiki.

"I'm hurt, Saotome, I am merely interested in your wellbeing. I want to see how much this pill has affected you is all." She acted as if she cared.

"I ain't buying it Nabiki!" Ranma exclaimed unknowingly putting her hands on her hips.

This raised Nabiki's eyebrow before she spoke, "Well you were the most profitable person I knew Ranma, and I _need_ to see how to place my bets when you get into your next fight. If I want to continue making a profit off of you that is."

"Fine!" Ranma said with a huff, "C'mon Akane lets spar, and I ain't holding back either this time." Ranma said with a smirk. She would normal pull her punches or not fight back at all, but she could already tell there were differences in her body. Akane looked uncomfortable, and her body went a little stiff with hesitation she didn't want to hurt Ranma, but this could be a chance to get payback on her.

"Uh… Yeah, sure." Akane said, as they both got into their fighting stances and faced one another. Ranma decided to attack first, but Akane dodged it.

"Huh?" Ranma threw another haymaker that Akane easily dodged. Blow after blow after blow Akane just danced around Ranma's punches. Finally, Ranma had enough playing around and cried out, "Akane stop running around and fight me!"

"You mean let you punch me why would I do that?" Akane said with a smile on her face mimicking Ranma from the past. She was finally better than Ranma and it was fun rubbing it in just a bit, but if their plan was going to work than she needed to let Ranma get one punch in to see exactly how strong she was. So, Akane left an opening, but Ranma didn't see it or even notice. She left another opening yet again Ranma completely missed her chance to get a hit in. Akane was getting frustrated so she finally leaned into one of Ranma's punched and brace for the impact.

"Owww! What the hell!" Ranma exclaimed grabbing her hand, "that felt like punching a brick wall!" the pain traveled up her entire arm, and it confirmed her worst fear. There was no way she was going to be able to fight her battles with her fists for the time being.

Akane blinked a few times as she stared at Ranma in disbelief she didn't feel a thing. Well not like she had planned on feeling. It merely felt like one of her friends had play punched her on the shoulder. It filled her with confidence and joy before she realized that she would now have to fight all the challengers and protect Ranma like Ranma had done for her before. Could she do that she asked herself? She was not even close to how strong Ranma was before the incident, and if someone really powerful came along they would be in real trouble. But, she was brought out of her musings as Nabiki spoke up laughing, "So, the great Ranma Saotome, being defeated by my little sis." She continued laughing.

"Shut it Nabiki! I don't want any lip from you right now OK." Ranma started to feel depressed the one thing that she knew, the thing that she had always been the best at, and the thing she had trained for since her birth was now taken from her.

"C'mon Ranma, I bet you couldn't even beat me." She heard Nabiki say those words and it lit a fire under her. She couldn't take that from someone who was, who was, dare she say normal.

"Beat _you_!? You've never even trained in martial arts before, why would I fight you!?" Ranma retorted.

"I don't know Saotome, how about instead of a knockout or yielding all I have to do is land a punch then, and if you win I'll clear all your debt away and give you some spending money when you go on your shopping trip with your Mommy." Nabiki said playfully.

"Fine, easy win for me. I'm ready when you are!" Ranma proclaimed as she got into a fighting stance facing Nabiki.

"But, what do I get out of it?" She put her finger to her chin as if she were thinking, "hmm, I got it how about until you can change back you have to wear the girls school uniform to school, and wear your hair down at all times." Nabiki stated as Akane came and sat down next to her.

"WHAT!?" Ranma was thrown back, but couldn't back out of the challenge that would break one of the fundamental rules of anything goes she was obligated to accept the terms. She collected herself knowing this was an easy win. "Good luck, Nabiki, you know I never lose." Ranma proclaimed as Nabiki got up and faced Ranma in the center of the room.

"And I never lose a bet, Saotome." Nabiki proclaimed, "I'm ready when you are." Then Ranma nodded in agreement.

Akane held up a flag then lowered it, "Match begins."

Ranma rushed forward hoping to throw Nabiki off, but couldn't bring herself to hit Nabiki she still had that mentality of not hitting women that her stupid father put in place and she couldn't get over her natural reflex. Even though she had just gone all out on Akane this was different Nabiki was an ordinary person and didn't know anything about martial arts. So, as soon as she got close she pulled her punch and held it in front of Nabiki's face.

Nabiki saw it coming and didn't even budge or move a muscle she was betting on Ranma not being able to hit her. All she had to do was wait for Ranma to get in close range and tap. She punched Ranma right in the gut not hard in any sense, but just enough to make its presence felt. "Looks like I win Saotome, I'll get Kasumi to fix up one of her old uniforms for you today, Ja ne." She said as she skipped out and exited the dojo. leaving a frozen Ranma standing with her fist extended in front of a no longer existent Nabiki.

Akane ran over to Ranma side just watching the stunned redhead who had once again added another loss to her ever-growing losing streak. "Ranma..." Akane whispered placed a hand on the redheads shoulder. Which made Ranma jump from the touch, then she let her fist fall, and drooped her head in shame with her arms held close to her side. She lifted her fist to look at it before asking Akane, "I lost?" as if to confirm her fate.

"Ranma, it's not the end of the world, don't tell me the great Ranma Saotome," She rolled her eyes, "Is going to be defeated by a simple school uniform." Akane poked Ranma in the chest.

In a monotone and lifeless voice Ranma said, "Whatever Akane, I'm going take a bath before breakfast." Then she slowly walked out of the dojo and into the home. Akane was left standing in the dojo watching the image of Ranma leave. She wanted to run after Ranma and comfort her, but that's what this whole plan was for. Ranma needed to just rip the Band-Aid off then let the wound heal. Akane had to keep reminding her self that this was for Ranma's own good.

* * *

Ranma was in the furo when she heard someone knock on the door. She didn't want to be bothered right now she had been having the worst day so far, nothing could make it any better.

"Ranma, can I come in I wanted to talk to you, dear?"

Ranma couldn't recognize the voice at the time but the 'dear' at the end let her know it was just her mother. She couldn't tell her mother 'no' it just wasn't in her.

"Yeah, mom you can come in, I'm just layin in the furo." Ranma called out.

The door creaked open and Ranma cracked her neck back to just make sure, and sure enough, her mother came walking in holding a Furinkan Highschool girls uniform.

"Kasumi, just got done fitting this to your size I'll just lay it over here until you get out." She laid it on the bathroom sink, "you seemed upset about losing your challenge to Nabiki, is this something you want to talk about, dear?"

"Mom… just come in and close the door behind you." Ranma asked motioning her mother to come over. Ranma actually wanted to talk about something, something she had always buried deep down ever since she had gotten her curse. She had always _kind of_ wanted to see what it was like but could never bring herself to act on it with all the engagements, and her father's teachings being shoved down her throat.

That's why whenever a challenge arose that let her embrace her curse she always dove into it. Just to have a small opportunity to see what life was like on the other side. But, she was always afraid of losing herself to it and never returning to Saotome Ranma. Because Ranma was a man and men shouldn't have these thoughts. That fear always kept her in check to never cross the line and delve too deep into her curse. Martial Arts was another way for her to keep these thoughts at bay, but it seemed like she wouldn't be able to do that anymore not while this pill was still working its magic.

Nodoka took one of the bathing stools and sat it next to the furo so she could have a talk with her daughter. "What is it dear, you know you can tell me anything. I only care about your well-being." Nodoka said laying a hand on her daughter's shoulders.

"Mom, I'm afraid…" Ranma trailed off looking down at the water to not look her mother in the eyes.

"Afraid of what dear, if you are afraid of wearing the uniform that badly I can talk to Nabiki and try to make some other kind of arrangement." Nodoka asked trying to comfort her child.

"No, I'm not afraid of a dress mom, I've worn them before." Ranma paused then turned her head to look at her mother. "I'm afraid that I'm going to enjoy it and never go back to being me again." Ranma said as her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

Nodoka chuckled slightly at that. This is what her daughter was afraid of. She was afraid of losing herself to a piece of clothing. Nodoka took her daughters chin in her hand and brought her closer before speaking, "Daughter, you will never lose yourself, you are the strongest person I know even stronger than myself. I have heard stories of all the things you have had to go through and I wouldn't wish it on anybody in the world, but here you still are alive and breathing. Yet you are afraid of giving in a little and trying something different." Nodoka paused giving her child a warm smile, "and, even if you do lose yourself as you say is it so bad to be a girl, half the population in the world does it every day. I do it, Akane does it, Nabiki does it, and even Kasumi wakes up every day and still they live their lives just as easily as being a boy." Nodoka stood up as Ranma was still watching her. "I came in to drop off your clothes, and to tell you breakfast is ready, please think about what I said, dear."

Nodoka turned and walked toward the exit of the furo when she heard, "Mom, wait." Nodoka turned around and looked back at her daughter.

"Thanks, mom I'll be down in a minute." Ranma said as she reached back and undid her pigtail letting her hair fall down around her. She grabbed the shampoo and began to wash it as she heard the door close and her mother left. Leaving her in a lot better mood than she had been in before, she was happy again, and a stupid dress isn't going to change who she is.

Ranma was afraid to exit the door she was staring at the handle for what felt like hours but was, in reality, only a few seconds. She wondered if she could just stare at the handle all day. Maybe she could, hide in here forever and never have to let anybody see her. But, she knew eventually someone would want to use the bathroom and she couldn't hide in here forever. She had to grab the handle and turned it, she had to step outside, open the door, and just let things fall where they may. So, she cracked the door open and had one leg out when.

"RANMA! If you were to take any longer we would have been late, what took you so lon…" Akane trailed off as she saw Ranma exit the door in front of her. There was Ranma standing in front of her with her red hair that fell down to the middle of her back, wearing the blue Furinkan High School uniform with puffy white shoulders, mid-length white socks, and a pair of black loafers. She was stunned, to say the least, "Ranma, you look beautiful." Akane said to the shy looking redhead.

"Uhh, thanks, Akane." She paused "Hey look sorry about taking so long. It took me a lot longer than usual." Ranma replied sheepishly looking at the ground, "well, I'ma go grab some breakfast."

Akane could do nothing but watch as the redhead left walking down the stairs and out of her sight. Akane was left there stunned for a while before shaking her head and entering the bathroom to get ready for the day.

As Ranma entered the dining room the reactions around the table were very different. Genma and Soun, both dropped their chopsticks and hung their mouths open unable to find words. Nodoka was clapping her hands in excitement. Kasumi, just had that wonderful motherly smile that she always wore. Nabiki had a mischievous grin plastered across her face. But, one thing they all had in common was that they were all staring and it did not make Ranma feel any better as she took her seat and began eating.

"Ranma dear, you look exceptionally beautiful today. You make your mother proud." Nodoka told Ranma wiping a joyful tear from one eye.

"Oh my, yes Ranma you are very pretty today. I was so excited when Nabiki told me you wanted to wear one of my old uniforms." Kasumi replied.

"What, boy you wanted to dress up like this? You are a disgr-" Genma got that far before, "husband dear, the only disgrace I see here is you. Now, why don't you give our daughter a compliment or I might have to make myself a new panda rug." She placed a finger on her chin, "I think it would go nice in the living room at our house, don't you?" Nodoka asked eyeing Genma. "Um, uh, well, you look very pretty in that dress uhh… child." Genma said stuttering.

"Um, thanks… and for your information, Pop I lost a challenge so I have to wear it." Ranma said back to her father.

"That's right Ranma, lost to me." Nabiki said with a cashier grin. Nobody really had a comment on that everyone was too stunned to speak and didn't want to poke any more fun at Ranma. Not that they didn't want to or couldn't think of anything. But, mainly because Nodoka would be the first one to respond if anyone dared to make fun of her daughter.

* * *

Ranma, Akane, Nabiki, and Nodoka all left the house together to walk to the school. Even with all of the morning antics that took place, they were still early and this would give them all plenty of time to talk to the school principal. In order to get Ranma's situation sorted out so she could use all of the correct facilities without a faculty member stepping in.

At least this was Nodoka's perspective she needed to help her daughter, she was willing to do anything in her power to make sure that Ranma would not be forced to change in the boy's locker room. Especially now giving that Ranma couldn't protect herself from a threat if one was to occur. The four girls walked and talked all the way to school although Ranma's talking did sound a lot more like groaning than talking for some reason. As the four of them walked through the gates of Furinkan High there wasn't even any students inside the campus or in the courtyard or so they thought.

"Aha, it is I Tatewaki Kuno, the blue thunder of Furinkan High, and I have come to claim, Tendo Akane's so that she may date with me." The Kendoist proclaimed as he jumped out of some nearby bushes.

"Wait, what about your fiery haired-goddess Kuno-baby?" Nabiki asked grabbing Ranma and pushing her in front of Kuno. "Hey, hey stop it." Ranma screamed as she dug her heels into the ground to no avail.

Kuno looked down at the red-headed girl in front of him for quite some time pondering the sight of her. "Hmm, although you may resemble my tree born kettle girl, I can tell the difference. I am not imprudent. You see this girl wears her fiery locks down, while my goddess has a pigtail. As well as, my pigtailed girl would rather depart the realm of the living before dressing in one of those articles of clothing. I am sorry red-haired girl, but I do not wish to date with thee."

"What!? That's not fair!" Akane proclaimed stomping her foot on the ground.

"What!? That's all it took, that's all it took for you to stop chasing me!? C'mon I am just as pretty as I was before!" Ranma was seething with rage after all this time of Kuno chasing and groping her all she had to do was change some clothes and wear her hair down. Kuno is even crazier than she thought.

Nabiki leaned forward and whispered in Ranma's ear, "Hey, you better take this while you have the chance. You don't want Kuno-baby chasing you again do you?" Ranma calmed down, but Kuno wasn't done.

"Now then, Tendo Nabiki, take your red-haired friend and step aside you are in the way of me proclaiming my love to Tendo Akane." Keno said as he gently pushed Ranma and Nabiki aside.

Nodoka was still standing next to Akane watching this whole thing play out she had heard the girls talk about a Kendoist who would spit poetry, and proclaim his love to her daughter and Akane. But, she had to make sure before she acted on impulse alone. So, she leaned in and whispered to Akane, "Is this that boy you girls were talking about, dear?" Akane merely nodded and that was enough for Nodoka to come unglued. She ran up to the Kendoist and drew her katana shoving the end right in front of Kuno's face before speaking, "I have heard the stories about you and how you have been molesting my child and my niece, and I will have no more of it do you understand me!" Nodoka said with anger and fire in her eyes.

"I am quite sorry, but I have never done such a thing I am the honor of the house of Kuno, and the star of Furinkan High. I would never dishonor myself by taking such actions against Tendo Akane, and if the one with fiery hair is your child then I have never seen her before today I can assure you. Now move aside I do not wish to date with you either." Kuno then put his two fingers on Nodoka's Katana and tried to move it aside, but it didn't even move an inch.

"Honor!? Honor!? You want to talk to me about honor then I will make you a deal dear. How about if you sign this piece of paper you will have a chance at dating your fiery-haired goddess, and my niece?" Nodoka dropped her Katana and held out a small piece of paper in front of Kuno.

"Mom, no I don't want to date him what are you doing!?" Ranma cried out she tried to walk over their but, Nabiki held her in place and whispered in her ear, "Ranma, me and your mother planned this just watch Kuno-baby alright?" Ranma stopped dead in her tracks and glared daggers at Nabiki there was no way in hell she was going to take any chance in dating Kuno. But, she did trust her mother more than anything in the world so she eventually curbed her anger and let things fall where they may. Akane, on the other hand, was not going to have any of this, "AUNTIE!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Akane screamed stomping over to Kuno and Nodoka.

"Akane dear, I am solving all of your problems with this please at least give me a chance." Nodoka said and then held up her hand to hold off Akane. That was when Akane got a glimpse of the parchment and knew exactly what was going on.

"So, all I have to do is plant my honored signature on this piece of parchment and I will have a chance to date with the pigtailed girl and Tendo Akane?" Kuno asked cautiously.

"Yes, that is what it says." Nodoka replied handing Kuno the parchment. He quickly signed it and handed it back without reading the paper one bit. All he saw was "Sign here_" and quickly did so.

"Now, move aside as I now have the right to date both Tendo Akane, and the pig-tailed girl, and the foil sorcerer Saotome Ranma will never be in my way once more." Kuno proclaimed triumphantly.

"I'm sorry dear, did you not read what you signed?" Nodoka asked staying put in her spot. Kuno quickly turned leaned forward to get face to face with the women in front of him, "What is the meaning of this I signed the parchment now move aside and let me be on my way."

"I'm sorry dear, but you have to complete the Seppuku pledge before you will have a chance to date either my niece or the so-called pigtailed girl." Nodoka said waving the piece of paper in front of Kuno's face. Akane was shocked, Nabiki was correct 'she is good.' Ranma started to pale she had barely gotten out of her pledge alive and that was only signed by her handprints. Kuno might have to die depending on what the pledge says.

Kuno's eyes bulged out of his head, "You, you tricked me you, vile women! But, I am honor bound to follow through with such contracts what must I do so that I may date with both of my true loves?"

Nodoka smiled, "Well, nothing too hard dear, the contract simply states that you, Tatewaki Kuno, have to become a 'Man amongst Men' before you are allowed to date, talk to, or attempt to court Tendo Akane, and the Pig-tailed Girl/Tree Born Kettle Girl/Fiery Haired Goddess/Saotome Ranma."

"WHAT!? The contract states that I must lie with another man, I will do no such thing it would dishonor my house more than committing Seppuku." Kuno exclaimed. Ranma and Akane both face faulted.

"Well… you can… interpret it however you want dear, but the pledge must be upheld you did sign it after all." Nodoka sighed with a sweat drop.

"Very well then I will leave my two loves be while I contemplate on this matter." Kuno turned placing his bokken over his shoulder and slowly walked into the school.

Ranma and Akane, ran up to Nodoka exclaiming how happy they were for finally getting rid of the loony Kendoist. While Nabiki just strolled on up behind Ranma and whispered in her ear, "You know I don't know why I didn't see it before, but you could have fulfilled the contract the way Kuno-Baby just said." Nabiki pulled back giving Ranma a mischievous grin. Ranma turned around staring at Nabiki looking like she was about to lose her lunch, but didn't say a word.

* * *

After the congratulatory victory over Kuno, all of them proceeded in the school and were quickly in front of the principal office's door. Ranma, had been there enough times to find out the principles schedule of which office he would be using on any given day.

"Ranma, I want you to sit out here," Nodoka said as she pointed to a wooden bench seat sitting just outside the principles office, "and wait for us to get done talking to your principal."

"Mom you do realize the principle is a loon, he won't listen to any of you." Ranma groaned.

"You just leave that for to me to decide, and it is improper to talk about someone like that especially your principal Ranma!" Nodoka scolded.

Nabiki came up behind Ranma, which made the girl jump as she remembered what Nabiki said last time "listen Saotome, with you in your condition the principle could easily hurt you. I'm the brains and I'll try to help you as best I can, Akane is going to be the muscle in there in case the principle does get out of hand (Akane grinned at her sister's comment), and well Auntie is just a powerhouse she can do both when need be."

Nodoka smiled at the girl she had heard the stories of Nabiki and how bad she was selling certain pictures of her daughter and her own sister, but she could also see the good in this girl. She only needed a little help to extract it. She didn't think drawing her katana in front of this girl would even make her move a muscle, but if she could show her the error of her ways and build up some trust with her maybe just maybe the Ice Queen of Furinkan high might hang up her crown. "Thank you dear, that was very kind of you." She turned and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Now you will sit right here until we are done talking, that is an order." Nodoka said sternly.

Ranma couldn't handle being treated this way like she was just china doll about to break if you even laid a finger on her. It really irritated her to no end, but she also couldn't help but feel like a delicate china doll that would break with the slightest touch. If this morning's sparing sessions did anything to her it opened her eyes to how weak she had actually become. She also could never tell her mother no, well not for long that is. So, she relented and with a pouty expression and a humph she said "Fine." And plopped down on the wooden bench seat.

Nodoka and Nabiki had already opened the door, but before Akane walked in she patted Ranma on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry Ranma it won't take long." Then closed the door behind her as she entered the office. That's not really what Ranma was worried about, time wasn't the issue it was what that cooky principle would come up with.

Five minutes went by as Ranma waiting outside of the door just sitting and fiddling with her thumbs. There wasn't much that she could do besides just sit. Five more minutes went by and she began to notice students piling into the courtyard some rode bikes, some were dropped off by their parents, some walked to the school alone, and some walked to school in packs. She got up and walked over the window seal and began to peer out to get a better view. She began to look at some of the packs and seen they were mostly groups of couples.

She began to pick apart every detail of each couple as she waited. The girls, were either lovingly hanging, leaning, or holding hands with their boyfriends. While the boys, merely soaked up the attention and looked shy, or were trying to push the boundaries of public affection. Sure, there were a few guys and girls who you could tell were the opposite and didn't like any of the public affection at all. But, still, they had no problem enjoying it somewhat. ' _Why couldn't I ever enjoy it, and show any of my fiancée's public affection.'_ Ranma shook her head, _'oh right their all weirdos one wants to poison me, another wants me for a breeding stud, the other one wants me to be a waitress for her, and the last one has anger issues. Maybe giving this girl thing a shot won't be so bad. I mean what could go wrong, my mom loves it, me and Akane have never been closer, and I have made friends actual friends. Not weirdos that come and try to attack me, and when I save them they act all nice and friendly for a few days...'_ Ranma was pulled out of her thoughts as a voice came out from behind her.

"Ranma dear… Ranma dear… Ranma!" Nodoka screamed on the last call of her daughter's name that made Ranma jump and turn around.

"Uhh… yeah mom, are we done here?" Ranma asked she didn't know how long she had been staring at the students that were walking into the school or lost in her own thoughts.

"Well, no dear," Nodoka replied, "the Principal wishes to speak with you." She ushered her daughter to come into the room, and Ranma followed her mother through the door.

When Ranma entered through the door it was like being transported to a different world. The light was blinding from the phony fluorescent lighting the principle used to imitate a brightly shining sun. The ground was covered in tan colored sand that was soft and fine below her feet as she was following her mother towards the principles desk. She could also hear the sounds of seagulls and hula music from an overhead speaker. She ended up taking her seat next to her own mother with Akane to the right and Nabiki on the other side.

"You wanted to talk to me Pineapple head?" Ranma asked as she looked up at her principal who was adorned in his usual flowery Hawaiian shirt, with some Capri pants, and a coconut tree top knot sticking out on top of his head.

"Ranma, language." Nodoka scolded her daughter, "that is no way to speak to your principal."

"Uhh, Sorry mom." Ranma replied, "you wanted to speak to me… sensei?" Ranma rolled her eyes.

"Why yes keiki, yur mudda tells me dat you be hafta to go to da school as a kamahine is dat correct? You know if ya do go to da school as a kamahine you hafta have a girl's curriculum too." Principle Kuno said. (Kamahine means a young female in Hawaiian or at least that's what the internet says.)

Ranma thought about it for a moment she clearly just thought that she wanted to try it, but could she give in so soon. Everyone in the room was staring at her she had to say something soon, "I guess… I'm fine with that." Ranma replied sheepishly. ' _Am, I gonna be fine with it... dammit what will people think now, I really put my foot in my mouth again.'_ She thought as she silently cursed herself.

Principal Kuno, was startled, to say the least he had hoped to have another fight. He should have said that she would have to get a haircut, not a curriculum change. "You… you are?" Principle Kuno asked leaning over his table.

' _Dammit, of course, he had to ask me again now what am I gonna say, Nabiki and Akane are looking at me as if I just stabbed a puppy, and my mom looks proud. I can't go back now!'_ "I… um…" Ranma started twiddling her fingers together and looking down, "yeah… I don't mind." She replied as she looked up to see a startled Principal. And, the look on his face alone was enough to tell Ranma she had made the right decision.

"Ya… don't wanna try and… find da coconut dat… will give ya da pass ta." He pulled the collar of his shirt, "ta... keep yur classes?" he finished.

Ranma looked up at the bewildered principal with new found courage as she said, "Nope are we done here?" and stood up, "can we all go to class now?"

"Sure… keiki... I'ma fix yur papers and…" The principal paused and looked over as if to confirm this was the same Ranma, "yeah, free to go." All of them stood up and left the flabbergasted principle sitting at his desk wondering how he had just lost the fight with no battle.

As they all exited the office Nodoka turned and faced her daughter saying, "Now Ranma dear, I think it might be wise to start and refer to yourself as a girl now." She waited to see the reaction of Ranma who was stunned, to say the least, but she continued before she could be cut off, "now before you protest you don't want to walk around here proclaiming you're a boy when you enter the girls locker room or restrooms now do you?"

Ranma was shocked. _'why should I have to refer to myself as a girl, that's stupid. But, dammit if my mom isn't always freaken right, Ughh could this day get any worse.'_ She hung her head in defeat. "I-I guess so…" What could she do she obviously couldn't still claim to be a boy and ask to be accepted in the girl's facilities that's just asking to be called a pervert.

Akane walked over and put her hand on Ranma's shoulder. "It will be OK Ranma, you'll see." That will help a lot for later on in the week as well as getting all the rest of the students adjusted to Ranma's situation.

Nodoka then turned to all the girls and asked, "Now that that's settled dears, I'm taking Ranma shopping this afternoon and you two are welcome to come if you want to. I'll be right out front after school is over."

Akane wanted to go she had made a plan, not a plan with the others this morning. This was something she wanted to do herself something she _needed_ to do. "Sure, I would love to go Auntie." She replied with a smile.

"As much as I would love to watch Ranma squirm over clothes. I have some business to attend to after school Auntie." Nabiki said with a smile.

"That's quite alright dear," She turned to face Ranma and Akane, "so, I guess I will be seeing you two right after school?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma did not like the idea one bit, but she needed to go now. She had lost the bet to Nabiki and needed more uniforms, and needed to buy some female undergarments for herself. She couldn't keep wearing Akane's after all. "Hai mom..." she said with a groan.

"Yeah, I wouldn't miss it, Auntie." Akane said happily just as the bell rung signaling the warning bell before classes start.

Akane turned to Ranma and grabbed her. "Ranma were going to be late!" she exclaimed as she started running down the halls of the school and out of sight of Nodoka, "the stupid Principal didn't even give us a pass!"

* * *

 **The School Day.**

The sight of Akane dragging Ranma through the halls of Furinkan in fear of being late to class happened almost every day, but today was different. It caught almost everybody off guard as they watched the duo run to their homeroom. Akane and Ranma actually made it to class on time, and they also had a few minutes before Hinako would arrive. This just gave more time for the other students to stare and gasp at the sight in front of them. Ranma and Akane weren't fighting and were actually getting along somewhat it seemed, which sent off alarm bells. But, what was even more out of line was something none of them had ever expected to see. Ranma had shown up to school in a girl's school uniform with her hair down, and Akane was acting like it was normal.

When Yuka and Sayuri arrived they, both stopped dead in their tracks and blinked several times before remembering yesterdays events and continued on like it was normal. They were expecting a girly Ranma, but this was still a strange sight to see none the less. As they both walked by Ranma and Akane's desks they both stopped, they needed to talk.

Sayuri was about to talk to Ranma with Yuka, but she felt Akane grab her wrist and pull her down. Akane whispered in her ear, "Ranma is back to normal." she said but noted the confused look on Sayuri's face and her eyes motioning over to the redhead as if to say 'This is normal?', "No... well, the girly girl Ranma was just a one-time thing. I'll tell you why Ranma is dressed like that at lunch OK." Sayuri nodded as she was let up she turned her attention to focus on Ranma and Yuka's conversation.

"Ranma?" Yuka asked as if it was a question, but continued, "umm, why are you dressed like that?"

Sayuri cut in before Ranma could respond, "Yuka, don't be so mean!" She winked at Ranma, "Ranma, looks cute today. You shouldn't treat her like that."

"Y-your right sorry Ranma, you look very pretty today." Yuka said with a smile.

Ranma rubbed the back of her head and put on the everything is fine act with a smile then said, "Thanks, guys, you two look… cute today too." She paused for a second. "Y... ya, know Yuka, I like that bow in your hair usually you have a red one, but blue certainly looks good on you too." Ranma threw her hands over her mouth. ' _What did I just say!? What the hell am I saying.'_

Yuka just blinked at Ranma a few times before speaking, "Uh, yeah my red one got a little dirty this weekend." She put on a smile, "so I had to switch it up a little, thanks, Ranma. Well, we better go get our seats before Ms. Hinako comes in and decides to drain us." This made them all start laughing, before Yuka and Sayuri went and took their seats.

Hiroshi and Daisuke were watching this whole thing go down in utter astonishment and confusion. Not only were they thrown off that Ranma was a girl, but she had shown up in a girl's school uniform. They both looked at each other as if to confirm if what they were seeing was the same thing. Neither of them could figure out why? Maybe this was some sort of new plan or scheme Ranma was playing at? Maybe Ranma owed some money to Nabiki and this was his punishment? Or Maybe their friend had finally snapped and decided he liked being a girl? Well, they couldn't be bothered for now even if it was really strange it. They would just have to wait for lunch to find out.

Ukyo came in and was stunned as well, she had heard everything that Cologne had said. But, it was strange to see her Ranchan wearing that, and he/she seemed to be OK with it. She merely just said, "Good morning you two." To Ranma and Akane before taking her seat. This made Ranma relax some. She was afraid of the way Ukyo would react and was glad that Ukyo seemed to be OK with it for now at least. This was when a child-sized Ms. Hinako came walking through the door.

Hinako started to call roll and when she heard Ranma's voice be called out in a soprano like tone she put down the board and took one look at the redhead before asking, "Mister Saotome, what is the meaning of this?"

Ranma was about to respond when an office aid ran through the door and handed Ms. Hinako a note. Hinako looked at the note and read it several times then looked back at Ranma and then back at the note several more times before speaking again, "I-I see, well, Miss Saotome." The whole classroom gasped and turned to look back at Ranma. Ms. Hinako, looked back at the note again to confirm what she read was correct. "Let's just continue with class shall we." Ranma just nodded this was one day she couldn't wait for the class to start and get the focus off of her.

The day continued on with rumors being spread and notes being passed to Akane and Ranma, but they were all ignored. Nabiki got bombarded for answers throughout the day, and the only information she sold was that Ranma's curse is locked for about six-months. As per the agreement she made with Nodoka and her sisters this morning. The classes came and went one by one and the time ticked on until the lunch bell rang.

* * *

A cold front started blowing in around this time, but it wasn't enough to keep the students from barging outside to eat lunch. Akane, Yuka, and Sayuri asked Ranma if she wanted to go eat lunch with them, but she figured she needed to talk with Hiroshi and Daisuke. So, she went to go meet up with them at their spot by a tree off to the side of the school where Hiroshi and Daisuke liked to do some so-called girl watching. She walked up and sat down next to Hiroshi took out her bento and started to eat. Just waiting for the onslaught of questions to start.

Hiroshi turned to Ranma and just merely asked, "Well?"

She put down her chopsticks, and turned to face him, "Well, what?"

"Ranma." He paused, "you know what, why are u a girl, why are you dressed like that, and why is your hair down?" Hiroshi asked.

"Well, I'm stuck like this for a long time, I lost a bet to Nabiki and that's why I'm wearing this." She waved her hand down showcasing her dress, "and that's also why my hair is down." She nonchalantly and continued eating.

"Oh, how long are you stuck?" Daisuke asked.

She stopped eating again. "Well, doctor Tofu said it would be about six months." With the changes to her body, she didn't eat hardly anything anymore and inwardly scolded herself as she could already start to feel full, "maybe longer who knows. Also, that pill thingy drained me of my strength kind of like the moxibustion point before, but not as bad." She folded away her bento then turned to face both of them, "ok what else do ya guys want to know?" The weather was starting to get colder so she rubbing her arms trying to keep warm.

"Nothing, that pretty much answered everything I got, how about you Dai?" Hiroshi asked.

"Well, two things Ranma." Daisuke said, "First me and Hiroshi were going to go see a movie tomorrow and were gonna see if you wanted to come and hang out?"

"Sure, I guess I'll come, but you guys might have to come pick me up. My mom is being really protective over me right now." She started to shiver slightly and cursed her girl body for being so receptive to the cold.

"Uhh, yeah we can do that no problem bud." Hiroshi said with a smile.

"So?" Ranma asked looking at Daisuke.

"So, what?" Daisuke responded with a confused expression.

"What was the second thing?" She said with a little hint of anger in her voice, "damn it's freezing out here now?"

"Actually, that's what I was going to ask." he coughed, "well, you see... umm… we can see your umm…" he stopped he really didn't want to get hit today.

Hiroshi cut in, "Nipples Ranma, we can see your nipples. Why aren't you wearing a bra or something?"

Ranma froze she looked down and sure enough they were both pointing out of her blouse. She quickly threw her arm over her chest to cover her embarrassment. "What the hell!? Why didn't you perverts say something sooner!?" She then jumped up and stormed off.

Daisuke turned to Hiroshi and said, "Man tomorrow is gonna be a blast messing with Ranma."

"Yeah, you said it." Hiroshi responded.

* * *

Ranma didn't want to go to Akane because Sayuri and Yuka were there, and she would have to pass several other groups of kids eating lunch. So, she was left with only one person that could keep a secret for a price that is. She was running to where she knew Nabiki always ate lunch. She needed something to hide her embarrassment. It was bad enough that Daisuke and Hiroshi saw her dressed up in this getup, but now they saw her… her… umm, protrusions from her chest. She had to find Nabiki fast before lunch period ended and get _something_ to help her.

Nabiki was sitting with two of her associates at the edge of the school making up plans, changing bets and the works when she saw Ranma running up to her with her arm thrown over her chest. ' _Good, this is exactly what I had planned on. The weather channel was actually right for once.'_ She mused to herself internally before turning to her associates and telling them, "I have a customer, and I need some privacy you know the drill girls." And with that, she was left alone as Ranma was finally right in front of her.

"Nabiki you have to help me!" Ranma said pleadingly.

She put her finger to her chin, "Hmm, what is it you need help with Saotome?"

Ranma looked around to make sure she was alone before removing her arm and showing Nabiki what her problem was. "See, I need something to hide them. Do you have a jacket or something I could wear?"

"I don't have a jacket but I do have something that you can wear, Ranma-chan." She said with a cashier grin, "follow me." She waved her hand to usher Ranma along. Ranma followed her all the way to the girl's locker room.

"Nabiki, I can't go in there!" She pointed to the door.

"I thought we got it all sorted out this morning Ranma-chan. You are allowed to enter here now, correct?" Nabiki asked as she was halfway through the door, "you can come in or have the whole school see your umm, situation." She pointed to Ranma's chest and smiled.

"Ugg, fine." Ranma walked in, but held her eyes closed just in case anyone was inside.

"Ranma for real, open your eyes we are the only ones in here right now, stop acting like a baby." Nabiki jested.

Ranma slowly opened her eyes and sure enough, they were the only ones in there. It looked just like the boy's locker room although the tiles were a pink color instead of blue. Other than the lockers being decorated a bit with stickers, pictures, and mirrors it was basically the exact same thing and it calmed her down. She followed Nabiki to an end locker on the middle row. She saw Nabiki open it and began shuffling around before coming up and handing Ranma some sort of super small pink shirt?

She stared at it for a moment before asking, "What is this?"

Nabiki shook her head, how could Ranma not know what this was. ' _Surely Ranma has seen or looked at some these, and I know she wore bras before when she was trying to get back at Happosai the last time he put a moxibustion on her. Was Ranma stupid? Can't be that stupid?' S_ he looked at Ranma and began to speak in a condescending tone. "Ranma how do you not know what this is." She paused, "that is a sports bra, and it's clean I can assure you. I always bring a new one in and drop it off every Monday so I don't have to worry about it come Wednesdays."

Ranma froze and held it out in front of her like it was going to eat her, "A… a… bra… Nabiki I can't wear this." She turned her head to stare at Nabiki.

"Well, that's all I got unless you want all the boys to be drooling over this." she poked the end of Ranma's nipple which made Ranma jump and blush crimson.

' _OK, so it's a bra I was bound to have to wear one sometime. Just I didn't think it was going to be so soon. I thought maybe I might start wearing one after the shopping trip with mom…. Crap what am I thinking I should have never had that thought what is wrong with me! OK so if I was OK with wearing one after the trip with mom what's so bad about wearing one right now and I can't simply walk around school like this.'_ She looked down at herself she was still freezing standing in the middle of the locker room. "Are you sure this will help Nabiki, and how much is this going to cost me?"

"Cost you?" she paused ' _This would be a perfect opportunity, but it feels wrong knowing that Ranma is stuck this way. I kinda feel bad for the guy er girl whatever. Damn, I hate having a conscience, don't ever let anybody tell you that you don't have a soft spot Nabiki._ "No, it's free this time."

Ranma blinked in disbelief, "OK, well thanks, Nabiki now do I just slip it on like a shirt or what?" Ranma asked.

Several minutes later Ranma was fully clothed and no longer showing that it was cold outside. This was right when several girls started to walk into the locker room and immediately glared at Ranma. Ranma froze in shock she just knew what was about to happen.

The leader of the group spoke up first, "What are you doing in here pervert!?"

Another girl stepped forward, "Just because you look like a girl doesn't mean you are one and I'll be damned if you can come in here and look at us you freak!"

A different girl spoke up as well, "You're sick, get the hell out before we call the cops!"

Ranma was just standing there taking it all in. They were blocking the exit she couldn't just run past them where did they expect her to run. This was when something she did not ever expect to happen did.

"Oh really, she isn't a girl, I think all you are just jealous of her. I mean who wouldn't be just look at her perfect body. Her curves are excellent and her breasts defy gravity itself. If I were you, girls, I would worry more about your boyfriends looking at _her_ than if she is looking at _you._ I've sold them plenty of pictures you know and all them keep coming back for more! One more thing if any of you lays a hand on her I will personally see that all of you are dealt with and you _know_ I keep my promises!" Nabiki said in a tone of voice and glare that only the ice queen of Furinkan High would be able to do.

All of the girls immediately went from being angry at redhead to angry at their boyfriends. Then they all turned around and ran out the door to go catch them, but the leader of the group stopped at the doorway and turned around. "We, better not catch you in here again Ranma!" and with that, she was gone.

Nabiki turned around and ran up to Ranma, "Are you OK Ranma, the things they said, they are not true, you're not a pervert or a freak."

"Nabiki, I… I…, you actually stood up for me? Like for real you actually care about me?" Ranma's eyes started to get a little misty.

' _Why was this so hard for Ranma to believe plenty of people care about her, she has her mom, and Akane, well sometimes Akane, Kasumi cares I know that, and then there is… gods how have I never realized it Ranma is just as alone as I am._ Nabiki walked over to Ranma and brought her into a hug, "Of... of course I do Ranma, you're like a little sister or… sometimes little brother to me, your family Ranma."

Ranma straightened up and gently got out of the embrace to look back and Nabiki, "Why? you have always tried to make my life worse every day, why are you being so nice to me now?"

' _I can't tell her the truth she would freak, I'll make something up kind of.'_ She sighed and looked down at the smaller girl "To be honest Ranma, over time you just grew on me, and I don't have very many friends so I can kind of understand you a little is all. I know what it's like to be… alone and feel like you have no one to talk to about things. I felt really glad that you came to me with your problem today." She laughed a little then said, "and, I would be lying if the first thought that came to my mind wasn't how much money I could make off of your situation, but I buried it as soon as I thought it." She smiled.

Ranma smiled back, "Yeah you wouldn't be Nabiki if you didn't." She giggled, "And hey, you want to be friends?" She held out her hand.

Nabiki stared at the hand for a few seconds like it was going to bite her before she reached out and shook it. "Friends, but if you tell anyone about this I swear I'll make you pay Saotome." She said playfully.

"Yeah and if you say that Ranma Saotome, got misty-eyed over something stupid like this I'll make you pay." She laughed.

* * *

Then the bell Rang and the girls broke from their bonding moment and didn't say a word as they exited the locker room. Ranma had other things to worry about such as the first class of her new curriculum. It was Home Economics and she was frightened at the prospect of what she was stepping into. Was it going to be filled with girls like the ones she just met? Or, was it going to be a class where she had to learn about nothing but cooking, cleaning, and flower arranging? neither of those sounded good to her at all.

She walked through the halls ignoring all the people that walked by her with their rude comments or gossip. Not all of it was about her but a good majority of it was. That much she could tell just by the way they were all looking and staring as she walked by. She reached the door and looked at the handle. This was another door just like the one she stepped through this morning another door that would open up new things, bring changes to her life, and brand-new opportunities. She was brought out of her musing when.

"Honestly if you keep staring at it like that it's not going to open itself." Akane said standing right beside her.

Ranma reacted by scratching the back of her head and acting like nothing was wrong, "Sure, yeah, I know. Are you in this class too?"

"Yeah, c'mon Ranma were going to be late." Akane said as she opened the door and Ranma walked in behind her. She found that the room was different instead of desks and chairs there were just tables with cooking equipment scattered across the tops of them. She could see metal trays, pots, pans, woks, and bowls all around the back of the room separated neatly on countertops. Akane ended up waving for her to join her so she walked over and set her stuff down. ' _Oh man, what was I thinking Akane is the worst cook, now I'm gonna fail this class.'_

Ranma shook that thought off it wouldn't be any different than any of her other classes so why did it matter. "So, we just sort of stand here?" Ranma asked.

"Well, kind of but not for the whole class silly. Just wait for sensei to get in." Akane said, and just by sheer coincidence the teacher walked in and it was not who Ranma was expecting.

"Wait she is our teacher, Ms. Hinako?" Ranma asked raising an eyebrow. Akane just nodded.

Ms. Hinako did roll call and she did pause at Ranma's name for a second but continued on. Then as she sat the clipboard down the entire class didn't say a word or even breath. Ranma was looking around thinking ' _Wow Ms. Hinako, doesn't play around when it comes to this class.'_

But, was taken out of her thoughts when she heard the child version of Ms. Hinako scream in a very high-pitched childlike manner "Cookies!" And, with that everyone in the class started to hustle and bustle. It was like someone had fired the shot at the Olympics to start the hundred-meter dash. Girls were flying to the back of the room grabbing mixing bowls, pans, cookie cutters, and other tools needed for the job. The other half were opening cabinets and pulling out flour, sugar, and other ingredients. Akane came back from gathering her ingredients and said, "Here Ranma I got the ingredients for you to make yours too." She handed Ranma an extra, pan, and some cookie cutters, but she also gave Ranma cornmeal, salt, and Baking soda.

"Uhh, Akane, you don't use these to make cookies." Ranma said looking at the ingredients in front of her.

"What, of course, you do that's what I always use." Akane said sternly.

"Akane, just listen to me please, let me get the ingredients I'll be right back." A moment later Ranma was back with the _correct_ ingredients.

"Why would you use any of this stuff. My recipe always turned out fine before!" Akane snapped.

"Akane, did you ever read the recipe?" Ranma asked.

"No, of course not why would I do that it's just recommendations anyway." Akane said as she grabbed the flour Ranma brought.

"Akane I have an idea, how about I measure out all the ingredients, and then you mix them together. Then we will just use the batter to make both of ours, OK?" Ranma asked.

"Fine I guess, I don't see what the problem is." Akane sighed, "but, if you want to work together Ranma, then OK." Akane smiled as she set the flour down and grabbed her mixing bowl.

Akane and Ranma surprisingly worked very well together. Ranma handed the ingredients to Akane, and Akane would add them to her mixing bowl stirring it angrily. After their batter was mixed both girls rolled it out and used the cookie cutters to shape their cookies. Ranma's was a horse-shaped one, and Akane's was a flower-shaped one. After their cookies were done and pulled out of the oven they were left to cool for a few minutes. Until Hinako made her rounds tasting one cookie out of everybody's batch. She smiled and congratulated everybody until she got to Ranma and Akane's table. She slowly reached up and grabbed one of Akane's cookies and bit into it.

"Akane, this is… did you make this?" Hinako asked.

"Umm… yeah with Ranma's help I did... they're not terrible, are they?" Akane asked pleadingly.

"No not at all there actually one of the best in the class, Akane, Ranma, you both get an A today." Hinako said as she spun around and ran up the front of the room to log in everyone grades.

"Ranma… I actually made something good, something edible!" Akane exclaimed as she turned around to hug Ranma.

"Akane… can't… breath…" Ranma said as she was turning blue from Akane's squeeze.

"Oh, sorry Ranma, I'm, just so happy! I have never gotten a passing grade in this class before. This is my second time taking it Ranma!" She exclaimed.

"Oh… no problem… we can do the same tomorrow and we will both ace this class!" Ranma said with that cocky grin that Akane knew too well and hadn't seen for a while, "but, we should probably start to head out, everyone else has already left."

Akane looked around and sure enough, they were the only two left in the entire room they must have missed the bell ringing.

* * *

The rest of the day went by smoothly with no interruptions at all. As the school let out Nodoka was standing right outside of the school gates waiting for her daughter and niece just as she had promised. As Akane and Ranma approached her she simply asked excitedly, "Are you ready to go shopping dears?"

"Believe it or not mom." She sighed, "I actually am, Nabiki and Akane really opened my eyes, and I know I need to buy clothes for this form especially if I'm gonna be in it for at least six months." She said with a smile.

Nodoka smiled at her daughter, "Good dear, I am glad you are coming around."

Akane, Ranma, and Nodoka all walked away from the school towards the mall. Weaving throughout the bustling city streets of Nerima ward. The chilly air that blew in around mid-day did little to slow down the people of Nerima. Cars were honking, people were running from one side of the streets to the other, and you could see the breath of the people as they walked by. Almost like little puffy clouds of smoke being released into the cold winter day.

Akane beamed the entire time and would not stop talking about how excited she was that she had finally cooked a good batch of cookies. Nodoka reluctantly tried a few of her cookies and was thoroughly surprised. She congratulated Akane telling her how proud she was of her improvement in the culinary arts. Ranma listened to the conversation, and only really spoke up when Akane would mention how well they worked together as a team. They also told Nodoka their plan to pass the class for the rest of the semester.

Before long they were inside of the mall and heading into a clothing store. Ranma was assaulted immediately by her mother and Akane. They started showing Ranma, the basics. Showing her the different styles of panties from lacy down to boy shorts. She got a few lacy pairs that her mother insisted she get, but the majority of what she got was some regular cotton brand that wouldn't stand out too much. ' _Not that anyone would be looking down there, but stranger things have happened.'_ Ranma thought to herself as she mused through her collection.

Ranma was soon thrown into the world of bras and was overwhelmed by the many different styles and uses of them all. She had told her mother about today's incident and that she already knew about sports bras and wanted some of those. But, her mother said that she still needed to be measured for an appropriate size and she wanted her to at least try to add some variety to her wardrobe.

"You never know when you might want to dress up and look pretty for… someone, dear." Nodoka said to Ranma trying to coax her daughter to try on a really racy bralette style bra.

Rolling her eyes and folding her arms under her chest in the changing room. Ranma, stared down her mother before replying, "MOM! shouldn't you be telling me not to buy these things!" she picked it back up and held it out in front of her, "I mean look it's basically just strings!" Akane just laughed to herself as she was sitting outside of the dressing room where Nodoka and Ranma were.

"Don't talk to your me like that, Ranma." Nodoka scolded, but didn't raise her voice, "Now I know it is quite racy, but you should at least buy one." She sighed and walked up to her daughter placing her hand on Ranma's shoulders, "my plan was to have you get at least one for you to wear when or if you ever wanted to dress up. Who knows what will happen in the future. You might find a handsome young man someday." Nodoka smiled. Outside Akane, got up and walked off she was laughing way too hard and didn't want to disturb mother-daughter bonding time.

Ranma's eyes went wide, and her mouth hung open just staring at her mother but said nothing she was lost in thought. ' _Why didn't I scream or protest what's wrong with me. Do I want to dress up for... someone? No! hell no! ain't gonna happen. I'm Ranma Saotome, and I'm a guy. Who's buying bras and panties with her mother, going to school wearing a dress, and is actually having fun. _Ranma shook her head, ' _Shut up stupid girl brain, geeze I am not having fun, and I'm only doing that stuff cause I hafta. That's a lie and you know it. Oh yeah, what do you know huh? Well, I'm you I'm not a voice in your head I'm your thoughts so yeah that's what I'm thinking. This is too confusing how can I be me and you be me and you not be a voice in my head huh? Well, that's because you're talking to yourself inside your own brain these are your thoughts, not mine, well they are mine because I'm you, but you get the point, so stop arguing with mom and have fun._

"Ranma… Ranma… Ranma…" Nodoka was shaking Ranma by the shoulders.

Ranma blinked several times then shook her head, "Wazzat?"

"You nearly gave me a heart attack." She brought Ranma into a hug, "Ranma if I knew this was going to trouble you that much I wouldn't have asked you try it on, I'm sorry dear."

"Oh, sorry mom, I kinda phased out for a second. I'll try it on no problem, but do you think they have one in red? Pink… isn't really my color." She asked her mother.

Nodoka smiled back at her daughter, "Sure dear I'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

Ranma ended up getting two bralette styles because they were actually really comfortable and she might just wear it around the house when she wasn't doing anything, but watching T.V. or something. At least that's what she told herself it was not because she liked the way she looked in them or anything. It was merely just comfort.

After bras and panties were out of the way they started buying Ranma some pajamas and sleepwear. Ranma got her a pair just like her mom's blue with cherry blossoms scattered across them. She also got a few nighties, that Akane said looked "So kawaii" on her, and Nodoka stuffed them into their shopping cart despite Ranma's protests.

They left that store and went into a different clothing shop this one apparently favored more skirts, slacks, jeans, blouses, and dresses than undergarments or nightwear and that was a sigh of relief for Ranma. This is where she got some more school uniforms to fit her size. Ranma had also changed into a pair of tight jeans and a white blouse that her mother bought for her to wear. She was tired of wearing that stupid school uniform. Akane had also changed into a yellow sundress she had bought herself.

Right now they were all looking through some clothes racks trying to find a red blouse in Ranma's size, when Akane looked up at the time on the wall and piped up saying, "I promised a… friend, I would buy her… something while I was at the mall, I'll be back in a minute."

"OK dear, take your time." Nodoka said she as she never took her eyes off the clothes in front of her still sliding them one by one mechanically looking for the right size and color blouse for her daughter.

Ranma was copying her mother identically, "Sure Akane, see ya in a minute." Akane briskly walked out of the store.

"Say Ranma dear, why don't I ask a sales lady if they can help find one in your size?" Nodoka started to walk off but turned around, "You, will be alright by yourself for a moment, won't you?" she asked with a worried look.

Ranma stopped rummaging through the clothes rack, looked up at her mother, and rolled her eyes before saying, "Of course I will mom, I'm not a _baby_." In an aggravated tone of voice.

Wearily Nodoka said, "Alright, I'll be right back." As she walked off to find one of the sales ladies.

Ranma continued looking through the racks of clothing completely oblivious to the world around her. She was shuffling through the blouses determined to find a red one just like the white one she was wearing. She hated to admit that she was actually enjoying herself, but she kept protesting at times just to keep up appearances. She sighed as she had gone through the entire rack of clothes then walked over to another and repeated the process. She was about halfway through when she finally found the article of clothing she was looking for and gleefully held it up in the air like it was a prize. That was until a small fast moving black object came flying by and ripped the blouse from her hands making it stick to the wall. Ranma grimaced as she saw what was making her blouse stick to the wall, and immediately knew who had attacked her. She turned and faced her foe snarling as she clenched her fists, "Hey! Your gonna pay for that!"

"Ho, ho, ho, ho, were you going to purchase that red-haired hussy?" Kodachi exclaimed, she was wearing her traditional green leotard and twirling a black ribbon around her.

"What do you want Kodachi!?" Ranma exclaimed, got into a fighting stance preparing for one of Kodachi's attacks.

"I have come to seek vengeance!" Kodachi exclaimed throwing out her ribbon and grabbing Ranma by the arm, "For tricking my brother darling!" pulling on the ribbon she flung Ranma outside of the clothing store and into the middle of the mall. Ranma hit the ground hard leaving an imprint. Even though she may have been weakened and couldn't use her Ki she still had endured some of the worst training methods known to any person on the planet and pain she could deal with. Slowly finding her bearings she climbed to her feet getting ready for another attack before exclaiming, "Since when did you start caring for your brother!?"

"You think I care about my darling brother, you hussy this is a matter of family honor. No person of the house of Kuno shall be forced into an act of Seppuku or lay with another man!" Kodachi yelled as she came running up full force throwing a pin that hit Ranma right in the shoulder knocking it out of socket and ripping part of her blouse in the process.

The scream from Ranma as she fell back on the ground gripping her shoulder stopped Kodachi dead in her tracks. She began to think ' _Hmm, maybe all those training sessions with Sasuke are finally paying off.'_ Ranma gripped her shoulder as blood began to run down her arm. Ranma saw Kodachi pause and start to stare at her this gave her some time to think about what she was going to do, ' _OK, so I can't fight her head on, I'm not fast enough to dodge any of her attacks, and I'm not strong enough to attack back. What the hell am I gonna do?'_ She began to look around to see if anyone around her could be able to help. ' _If Akane was here, she could handle her easy, dammit I hate being so weak!'_ Wearily getting back up to her feet as she was gripping her shoulder Kodachi came in with another attack grabbing Ranma by the ankle and throwing her into another part of the mall. Ranma clenched her eyes shut as she was expecting to hit the ground any moment but someone caught her in midair.

"Are you alright miss?"

Feeling an arm around her Ranma blinked her eyes open as the to see the man who saved her, "Huh… Ryoga…?"

Ryoga had one arm around Ranma and was using the other to grip his umbrella. They both floated safely to the ground before he caught what the red-headed girl in his arms had said. He looked down at her confused. ' _Huh, this cute girl knows me.'_ Setting the girl down on her feet. Ryoga turned to her blushing and nervously scratching the back of his head. He stuttered as he began to speak, "Sorry miss… I… I… uh, don't seem to know who you are?" pausing he leaned down to take a closer look at the small girl, "Have, we met before?"

Ranma was gripping her shoulder and looking up at Ryoga confused before stating the obvious to the lost boy, "Dammit P-chan it's me Ranma!" While rolling her eyes and wincing as her shoulder began to hurt as time went on.

Ryoga's eyes bulged as he connected two and two together the fiery red hair, the bright crystalline blue eyes, and the height of the 'girl' in front of him. "WHAT!? RANMA!? What the hell… why are you wearing all those girly clothes! Are you trying to trick me again!" Ryoga exclaimed, looking like he was about to attack then stopped as he noticed how badly hurt Ranma was. Her hair was a mess, blood was running down her arm and splattered all over her blouse. He saw the way her arm was just hanging there and it was a clear sign of dislocation. ' _What the hell could have done THAT to Ranma, the guy must be some sort of monster!"_

"look pig breath we don't have much time you have to help me, please!" Ranma said as another pin came whirling by. It would have hit her had Ryoga not swatted it away. Ryoga turned around cautiously to see what kind of monster was capable of putting Ranma in such a bad state.

Kodachi landed a few feet away from the duo twirling her ribbon around her before exclaiming, "Now I know you are not right for my Ranma-darling. You are clearly cheating on him with this peasant boy!" She threw out her ribbon and grabbed Ranma's ankle throwing her into a nearby wall. Ryoga was too shocked to deflect the ribbon as he was trying to figure out how Kodachi had been able to easily beat Ranma.

He sat there and watched as Kodachi relentlessly kept snapping her ribbon at Ranma over and over again, and each time Ranma would scream out in pain. ' _Something is wrong why won't Ranma fight back, he could easily dodge all of those attacks even with a dislocated shoulder he still has legs. What the hell is going on?'_ He was pulled out of his thoughts as he saw Ranma begin to curl up into a ball gripping her shoulder, and just staring at him with pleading eyes as she was screaming, "Ryoga, please! Please! Help!" she kept repeating it over and over again.

Ryoga clenched his fist and pulled back out his umbrella as he exclaimed, "DAMMIT RANMA!" he jumped in front of where Ranma was laying on the ground. He caught Kodachi's ribbon then threw the end of his umbrella connecting directly with Kodachi's head. The blow threw her back into the other side of the wall creating a sizable crater as she laid there unconscious.

Ryoga turned around to give a piece of his mind to Ranma for making him injure a girl but stopped as he saw Ranma was still laying there curled into a ball with her eyes open looking like they were devoid of life. She was even still facing where Ryoga had been before completely frozen. She was still barely audibly mumbling "Ryoga please, please, help." Over and over again.

"What the hell happened to you Ranma?" Ryoga asked as he leaned down extending one arm, but stopped as he was just about to touch her. He felt cold steel press against his cheek and didn't want to move a muscle.

"What have you done to my daughter!?" Nodoka exclaimed holding her Katana out pressing it even closer into Ryoga's cheek as a small amount of blood began to trickle down the side of his face. ' _Daughter? What Ranma can't be a girl. I went to middle school with him.'_

"Wai-Wait I can expl-" Ryoga got cut off.

"Auntie! You found Ranma!" Akane came running up to the group, "hey Ryoga what are you doing here?"

Nodoka turned her head towards Akane, "You know this boy, Akane?"

"Yeah, he is one of Ranma's friends." Akane said, "Ryoga, what happened to Ranma?"

Nodoka lowered her Katana. "Explain yourself, young man, what happened to my daughter!?"

"I just seen him getting attacked and stepped in to help, look I swear." He pointed across the mall to a still unconscious Kodachi laying in a depression in a wall. Nodoka noticed and put away her Katana, but before she could apologize.

"Auntie, something is wrong with Ranma, she isn't moving and keeps mumbling something. We should get her to Tofu's." Akane said pleadingly. Nodoka looked down at her daughter and was horrified to see those eyes they looked hollow and lifeless.

Nodoka looked back up at Ryoga, "I apologize for my recent accusations." She sighed, "but could you please help carry her." As she was looking up to Ryoga he could tell this woman was almost on the verge of tears.

"Uhh, yes mam." Ryoga said as he knelt down and scooped up Ranma into his arms. He tried his hardest to not get lost as he followed Akane and Nodoka who were carrying the shopping bags all the way to Tofu's clinic.

* * *

All eyes were on Dr. Tofu as he entered his office and took a seat at his desk. He took off his glasses and sighed, before speaking, "Ranma, is fine now she is resting in one of my beds she should wake up any moment. I set her shoulder back in place she may have to wear a sling for a week or two, but other than that she will make a full recovery. The reason you found Ranma in such a state of shock is that I believe she was trying to force herself into Neko-Ken, but the Ki and technique were nowhere to be found. So, she went into a state of shock, but I would like to know what happened?" He glared at Ryoga, he knew the past histories between the two of them and had a suspicion that he was involved somehow.

"Thank goodness, I'm never letting her be alone again!" Nodoka said burying her head in her hands as she began sobbing.

"Kodachi, was attacking Ranma, luckily Ryoga was there to step in and put a stop to it." Akane said leaning over and hugging Nodoka.

"Why would he need to wear a sling, Ranma has been injured worse than that and been fine the next day, and why does everyone keep referring to Ranma as a girl?" Ryoga asked confused.

Tofu looked at Akane who nodded and Nodoka who raised her head out of her hands with tears in her eyes gave the doctor a go-ahead look. "Before I speak none of what I am saying can ever get back to Ranma she was told a different story and we will keep it that way. Until it is easier for her to accept the current situation understood, Ryoga?"

Ryoga looked at Tofu for a second. ' _What could be so bad they won't even tell Ranma?'_ Ryoga nodded then said, "Yes, I understand Tofu-sensei."

"I am glad Ryoga, I take it you know nothing, about what has happened in the past few weeks?" He paused and could see the expression on Ryoga's face, "no it appears not. Well, Ranma and Happosai got into a fight. Happosai won then used an ancient amazon pill to punish Ranma. The pill has some nasty side effects and from what I can gather it is the synthesized water of the spring of the drowned girl, plus some other plants and herbs that grow in the area, as well as some silt from the bottom of the spring. At least this is the pill that Ranma took. If Happosai wanted to use that pill on someone that had a different curse it would most likely do nothing."

Ryoga cringed at hearing this and was bearing for the bad news he could already hear the words in his head. ' _Ranma is stuck, that's what he is going to say. I just know it. But, why wouldn't Ranma fight back?'_ "OK, what does the pill do?" Ryoga asked.

"One of the side effects I presume you have already guessed is that Ranma is stuck, but this isn't like last time or any of the times before that. Ranma is permanently stuck forever." He sighed, "from what Cologne has told me and from my own research the lock is permanent I have found nothing to go against these findings."

Ryoga's eyes went wide with horror ' _All it takes is one pill, one pill and you're done for_.' "Wait, you said 'one of the side effects' there are more?" Ryoga asked in a shaky voice.

Tofu put his glasses back on before asking, "You do remember the moxibustion point Happosai used a while back?" Ryoga nodded, "good, this is similar except it doesn't just leave the victim weakened you see it puts you into your cursed forms body. Basically, from what I can gather it severs the tie from your birth form causing you to lose all strength, Ki, and reflexes that you once had and overwrites them to the cursed forms default settings. So, Ranma is an average teenage girl now, but Cologne did say with time Ranma may be able to get his fighting spirit back whatever that means."

Ryoga was stunned, to say the least. Contemplating Ranma man amongst men best martial artist in the world as just a normal everyday average teenage girl hurt his brain. He was torn between being happy that Ranma was no longer competition for Akane's hand, and saddened, hollow, and almost heartbroken for Ranma. Ranma had lost everything more than everything he had even lost his identity as a person. _'What, would I do if I were stuck as a pig the rest of my life, that would be horrible, I would rather die than do that. I'm so helpless and weak in that form anything could happen to me…'_ visually his eyes went wide in realization, _'And anything could happen to Ranma he's now just as weak as I am in my cursed form.'_

Dr. Tofu saw the reactions play about on Ryoga's face and was relieved to find sympathy and understanding in the lost boy's eyes. "Before I explain the last part of what the pill does. We need to touch on a few things that have bothered me from today's events specifically the state that Ranma is in." He pushed up his glass from the bridge of his nose.

"What do you mean there's more!?" Ryoga exclaimed. _'Remind me never to make Happosai mad, I'll go buy him some panties next time I see him. Hopefully, I won't ever see him again.'_

Nodoka had finally come out of her crying fit, "Yes Ryoga-kun, there is more." Wiping her tear-stained cheeks with a napkin. "Now, Tofu-sensei, what is it that has you bothered? You said Ranma was fine, didn't you?"

Tofu nodded, "Yes, Ranma will be perfectly fine maybe a few bruises and such but will remain a perfectly healthy child. What bothers me is that and I do not mean to be rude here, but it seems that just having Akane around isn't enough to protect Ranma. Today's events are a clear indication of that and something much worse could have happened if Ryoga wouldn't have intervened when he did."

"What are you saying, I just left Ranma alone for a minute, I didn't know this would happen." Akane was bursting into tears now. Ryoga had a brief but minimal anger build in him, but it vanished. He couldn't blame Ranma for these tears as much as he wanted to. He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"That is not what I am implying Akane, I was just trying to point out that the fact of the matter is this will continue to happen and every time we could end up in the much worse situation. I just want to make sure that we try to prevent this as much as possible." He said looking at Ryoga who just squirmed under his gaze not knowing what it meant.

Nodoka regained her composure and as a mother figure and matriarch of the Saotome's she understood what he implied. "I think I know what you mean Tofu-sensei." She turned to face Ryoga, "Ryoga-kun, I know you and Ranma are friends would you mind helping Akane protect Ranma during this time? I know it is asking a lot, but it would really help your friend during a time in need." Ryoga winced every time she said friend but no one picked up on that.

"Th-that would help so much and that's a wonderful idea, you will help me won't you Ryoga?" Akane asked pleadingly with misty eyes from earlier on.

Ryoga's eyes glazed over at the sight of Akane asking him for help he completely forgot what he had agreed too and simply replied, "I-I uh, sure I guess." ' _Dammit, I did it again_ , _now I'm stuck watching over Ranma, this is just going to be great. But, just the sight of how easily he got beat, Ranma really does need help.'_ "I did protect him last time during the moxibustion thing so it won't be so much different, will it?" Ryoga said nervously scratching the back of his head.

"Well then now that the more important matter is resolved I'll finish explaining about the pill." Tofu-sensei said proudly now that his plan had worked.

Ranma sat up on her bed as her whole body stung all over again. She winced as she tried to move her left arm and her shoulder sent a flurry of painful jabs throughout her nervous system. She looked down and realized her arm was in a sling and frowned. The last thing she remembered was asking Ryoga for help then being slammed into a wall. Everything after is pretty much just blackness. She assumed she just blacked out from the impact. _'I guess I really owe Ryoga one he really saved my bacon.'_ She laughed to herself.

She climbed out of the bed and as she tried to stand she got light headed and blackness tried to overtake her vision, but she fought it off and regained her senses. Looking around she found that she was in the same room that she had awoken from the day before. ' _I really shouldn't make this a habit, Doc might start charging me.'_ She chuckled to herself as she made her way to the door.

She stopped for a second and thought, ' _Another door, another handle, ahh I'm just being stupid.'_ She reached forward and walked through the doorway as she heard talking echoing down the halls of Tofu's clinic. She followed the voices and stopped as she got in front of Tofu's office door. She heard, her mom and Akane ask Ryoga if he would help protect her. She flared with anger for a moment thinking that no one needed to protect her.

Then a sharp pain from her shoulder shook her from this notion. Who was she kidding she couldn't even hit Akane, she got demolished and maimed by Kodachi, and she even lost to Nabiki this morning. ' _Doesn't matter pig boy won't ever go for that idea, he hates me too much I don't even know why he helped me.'_ Then she heard Ryoga's voice respond, _"I-I Uh, sure I guess. I did protect him last time during the moxibustion thing so it won't be so much different, will it?"_ Ranma's eyes went wide as she couldn't believe what she was hearing, ' _Huh, pig boy actually does care, maybe were friends after all. Guess I ought 'a stop calling him pig boy…. nah, I'll just be nice for a while.'_ Ranma didn't hear anything more from inside the office as she was too deep in thought. She slowly reached forward and opened the door.

Everyone turned to see the redhead enter the room she looked horrible, she was still wearing the same white blouse, but it was more red than white at the moment. Blood that had trickled down from her shoulder and gotten all over the left side of her jeans. There were cuts and holes all throughout her clothing. Her hair was a complete mess leaving it down had made it worse it was matted together with sweat and blood. Some of it was even still stuck to her neck. The stares made her paused for a moment before she continued inside the room.

Tofu spoke up first, "How are you feeling Ranma, you were in quite a state of shock when you were brought in?"

Nodoka was close to tears seeing her daughter up and moving. She spoke before Ranma could answer, "Ranma, I was so worried sweetheart, please come sit." As she patted her lap. There were no more seats in the office at the moment.

Ranma reluctantly did what her mother asked and went to sit on her mother's lap. Her mother gently started to run her fingers through her daughter's hair pulling out the knots as best she could. In her mind, she was trying to soothe her daughter. It might have worked if Ryoga wasn't in the room watching this whole thing play out he was staring in disbelief and blinked a few times before adverting his eyes staring at the edge of the doctor's desk. Ranma saw this and wanted to make some sort of remark about go ahead and laugh it up P-Chan, but couldn't Ryoga had just saved her and had agreed to help her. So, she settled for a pouty expression and crossed her good arm over the sling.

"I'm fine, I guess... whole body hurts some, shoulder is a pain, but I've had worse, Doc." Ranma replied.

"I'm sure you have Ranma, you may have to wear that sling for a week or two, but besides that, you are all free to go." Tofu said as he stood up from his desk.

"Two weeks, ugg, that's gonna be a pain." Ranma said frustrated as she stood up. Followed by her mother and Akane. Ranma had to poke Ryoga as he was still staring at the desk and not noticing the people moving around him. He looked up and seen what was happening and figured they were about to leave.

As they were all walking toward the front of the office Nodoka turned to Tofu and said sternly, "We will make sure that she doesn't take that sling off unless it is to bathe, and I'll be helping her do that as well." Ryoga blushed at the thought and almost had a nosebleed, Akane thought it was weird, but said nothing. Ranma, stopped and turned towards her mother screaming, "MOM! Not in front of my friends, geeze."

* * *

All of them walked through the streets of Nerima towards the Tendo dojo in almost complete silence. Akane felt like she had let Ranma, and Auntie down. She was just gone for a second and then some crazy person found the opening to attack Ranma, but she didn't see it that way at all. She felt like she had utterly and completely failed and just turning to look at the red-haired girl was confirmation of her failure. The sling, the blood, the hair, and the clothing were all she needed to see, so she hung her head in shame and didn't say a word the entire time.

Ryoga was happy as he got to hold Akane's hand so he wouldn't get lost, but he was also silently berating himself for agreeing to this, _'They said it was permanent just how long do they expect me to watch over him I can't do it forever.'_ He turned his head and looked at Ranma, and the sight of how she looked reminded him of why he would have agreed even if Akane hadn't have asked him. He was a stand-up guy after all. He couldn't let his biggest rival die at the hands of another and defeating Ranma in this state would just be a hollow victory.

Nodoka was telling herself that she would never let Ranma be alone. ' _I will make sure that Ranma has me, Akane, or Ryoga with her at all times. I did not wait this many years to finally see my baby and have her killed.'_ Ranma was feeling overwhelmed, her mother was hovering over her and had her hand on Ranma's right shoulder the entire time. Although she didn't complain having her mother around did calm her nerves and she was slightly glad too. She didn't want to have the walk home with just Akane and Ryoga. That would have been awkward. Everyone walked in silence with today's event bearing down on them all for different reasons, but all because of the same thing. It didn't take them long to reach the front gate of the Tendo's and call out "Tadaima."

Kasumi was in the kitchen preparing dinner at the time when she heard four voices call out and enter the home. She could make out three of them and the fourth one sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. She called out, "O-kaeri-nasi." As she stepped out of the kitchen approaching the group that had entered the home. She instantly recognized the fourth voice as Ryoga, "Oh, Hi Ryoga-kun." Her eyes traveled and she saw the image of Ranma and gasped placing a hand over her mouth. She ran over and bent her knees to get closer to the red-headed girl, "Oh my, Ranma what happened are you alright?"

"Hi, Kasumi-san" Ryoga said with a wave.

"Kasumi, we should have a family meeting to discuss the situation and talk about why Ryoga-kun is here." Nodoka said sternly placing a hand on Ranma's head to avoid touching her hurt shoulder.

"Oh, I see I'll go tell father and start some tea." Kasumi said as she retreated into the house.

Everyone in the Tendo house was seated at the table in the living room ingesting today's events. Soun was at the end of the table taking in today's events with the utmost attention. Ranma had become like a family member to him sure he had planned to join the schools and planned a lot of schemes to do so, but that was impossible now. Even so, the Saotome's where always welcome and he thought of himself as a second father figure towards Ranma.

He would do anything in order to make sure Ranma was safe now. The boy had risked his life, time and time again for the family it only seemed right that he should stick his neck out for the poor child and her mother during this time. Nabiki was fuming on the inside after seeing the shape Ranma was in, but on the outside, she was calm and composed. She promised herself that she would do anything to make sure Kodachi got what was coming to her. ' _Maybe I should check with the hospitals to see if they picked up a girl in a leotard at the mall. I could get her arrested for assault although that would only hold her for a while the Kuno name has a lot of power. I'll have to think on it.'_ Kasumi was just worried over the state Ranma was in, but she was glad Dr. Tofu had said she was perfectly healthy and she would be fine. After the events were told and everyone had a minute Soun piped up and told the events of what happened and why one member was not here.

"So, that's where the stupid old panda has been figures as much!" Ranma said angrily.

"Yes, he left to go on a training trip right after Nodoka went to pick you girls up from school. I tried to stop him, but he was adamant on it. You know how Genma gets when he gets an idea in his head Nodoka." Soun said as he took a sip of his tea. Ryoga looked at Ranma for a reaction for being called a girl but she didn't seem bothered by it which he thought was weird. He landed on the notion that maybe Ranma just didn't hear it.

Nodoka sighed as she looked down at her teacup in front of her a stem was floating in. Which was a sign of good luck, but she didn't feel that lucky at the moment. "I know what you mean Soun, you have known him longer than I have, and I assure you he will be punished when or if he ever returns." She said sadly.

Soun turned his head towards Ryoga. "So back to the main reason we were called here it seems that you will be staying with us for quite some time Ryoga." He turned to face his eldest daughter, "Where do you suppose he should sleep, Kasumi?"

Kasumi placed a finger to her chin. "Hmm, I think it might be improper for him to sleep in the guest room, I can bring futon out into the dojo?"

"Why would it be improper?" Ranma asked confused. ' _We've done it before what's the problem now.'_

"Well, Ranma given your-" Kasumi was cut off.

"I see what you're saying Kasumi dear, but given recent events, I think it might be wise to have someone stay in Ranma's room at night for a while." Nodoka said smiling at Kasumi.

"I think that might be a good decision too Auntie, Kodachi has attacked me several times in the middle of the night just out of nowhere." Akane said with a huff. 'S _he also leaves a big mess to clean up too.'_

Kasumi picked up her tea not taking a sip of it, but just eyeing it in her hands before speaking, "I suppose that is the right decision, it just seems so indecent." She placed her tea cut down and stood up, "I better go see if dinner is ready." Ranma was still confused and didn't understand what Kasumi was talking about so decided not to say anything.

Soun stood up and clapped his hands together before speaking, "Well, now that matters are settled." He turned to face Ryoga. "Ryoga, you are now a guest of this house and are welcome here anytime and for as long as you need."

Ryoga stood up and bowed to Soun, "Thank you Tendo-san, it is an honor."

Laughing Soun said, "Now, now son there is no need for formalities please call me Soun or Mr. Tendo Just take your seat dinner will be ready soon I hope."

* * *

Not skipping a beat Kasumi came in exclaiming dinner was ready. Nodoka got up and walked into the kitchen to help her set everything out on the table. Before long the Tendo household was enjoying a nicely prepared meal. Ranma was still the first one to finish, but it wasn't because of her speed. She wondered why she wasn't able to eat as much as she used to, but thought it might be a good thing. She did not want to get overweight now that she obviously couldn't train anymore.

Ryoga was thinking about his situation, ' _OK, so I am basically Ranma's babysitter now, that sucks. But, I get to be around Akane, I get a roof over my head, and I get food that's a plus.'_ He turned to look at the redhead, ' _So, she is a real girl now, I wonder if she likes… what the hell am I thinking that still Ranma.'_ He shook his head and turned back to eating. The rest of the group had some small talk amongst themselves. Akane had brought up how well she had improved in Home Ec. thanks to Ranma's help. Which brought a smile to Kasumi, and Soun's faces they were both proud of her and proud of Ranma for finding a way through to her. Soon they were all finished and the table was cleaned when Nabiki turned and grabbed Ranma's hand, "Ranma, let me show you something."

"Uhh, um OK." Ranma was pulled up from the table and quickly being dragged up the stairs. As they reached the top of the stairs Nabiki quickly got behind Ranma and put her hands in front of Ranma's eyes saying, "OK don't look this is a surprise." While chuckling a little.

Ranma jumped a little at the sudden blindness she had, but trusted Nabiki, "…OK?" they continued walking forward and Ranma quickly found herself turned to the right and felt Nabiki's hands being pulled away from her eyes, before she heard Nabiki say, "OK, now open them."

Ranma's eyes fluttered open she was standing in front of the guest room. Nothing seemed out of place and everything seemed normal, except for one small detail. Just at the top of the door, there was a plaque of a copper toned horse with white feet that faded into the copper tones of the horse's body with the name Ranma written across it. Just like the duck ones on Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi's doors. Ranma turned around wide-eyed to face Nabiki, "Wow, Nabiki thanks."

Nabiki looked at Ranma like she was stupid and drooped her shoulders for a second then looked back up to face Ranma, "Ranma, the plaque is great and all, but open the door."

"Oh." Ranma said laughing, then turned around to face the door. Mumbling under her breath, "I really hate doors." She grabbed the handle and creaked it open gasping as she slowly revealed a completely different room. Instead of the lackluster lighting, dull wooden floors, old bland white walls, and ancient old dresser. The room was filled with a bright light just like all the other rooms in the house. The floor was still wooden but it was covered with a giant rug of almost the same copper toned horse on Ranma's door, but this one was running through a field of bright green grass on a sunny summers day with its mane blowing in the wind that made it stand out that much more.

The walls were now covered with different pictures of martial artists and certain anime shows such as Dragon Ball Z. The old ancient dresser was gone now and it was replaced by a new vibrant red-wood dresser that had a matching vanity station right beside it. One thing that called the attention to Ranma's eyes was that there was an actual bed at the end of the room. It was made out of the same material as the dresser and the vanity, but the frilly comforter and pillows were pure white and the only thing that offset it was a red stuffed piglet that was stuffed right in the center of the pillows poking its head out like it was looking around.

Nabiki walked over and plopped down on Ranma's bed as Ranma turned to face her wide-eyed and speechless. Nabiki spoke up with a grin on her face. "So, what do you think?"

Ranma was struggling to find words, "Nabiki… I…. I can't… what will Mister Tendo…. and… Pop's think if they find the room this way?" she walked over and sat down next to Nabiki and pulled her knees to her chest as she laid her head on top of them staring out at nothing.

Nabiki turned to face the distraught redhead, "Ranma, your worthless excuse for a father is on a training trip, and daddy and your mom are the ones who came up with this idea in the first place."

"What? why would Mister Tendo do this? He still wants to join the schools and I'll be back in about six months, anyways?" she turned to look at Nabiki.

' _Drat, why didn't I think of that before I said anything about daddy, how am I gonna play this off. OK, I know Nodoka has a big influence and has wanted a daughter maybe.'_ She gripped Ranma's arm in a gingerly manner than said, "Well Ranma your mom told Daddy that the engagements are all off. So, he offered to help your mom probably to try and get on her good side after you can change back." ' _Good lie Nabiki, you're not the ice queen for nothing. I do feel bad for lying to Ranma now. It's going to be a hard day when she finds out it's permanent.'_

"Really!? Wow, well it's a little girly... but I like it!" she turned and smiled at Nabiki. Then started looking around the room in wonderment. She was pulled out of her musings as she heard someone running up the stairs crying, then a door slam shut.

* * *

 **While Nabiki was Surprising Ranma.**

Back in the dining room sat Soun, Nodoka, Akane, Kasumi, and Ryoga all at the table talking amongst themselves and how to help Ranma.

Nodoka turned to Ryoga, "So, Ryoga-kun, how are you in school? I know you agreed to help Ranma so I think it would be best if you transferred to Furinkan."

Ryoga nervously pulled his collar, "Well Saotome-san… uh… I haven't really been to school since junior high." He admitted. Not wanting to tell Ranma's mother why he dropped out.

"Ryoga, while you are a guest in this house you can do as you please, but I still want you to consider going to school." Soun said sternly.

"I can help get you caught up too, you will be in the same class as me and Ranma." Akane said with a smile.

' _Same class as Akane-san, that's a dream come true, and Ranma won't be able to do anything about it.'_ Steadying himself and gaining composure he said, "Well, I guess it would be better for my future after all I'll do it." As he laid his teacup down triumphantly.

Soun cleared his throat and turned to face his youngest daughter, "Akane, you know I love you with all my heart, but what I am going to say might upset you. This has already been discussed with Nodoka and Ranma, so it is out of my hands and I would rather have it this way as well given the circumstances."

Worriedly and in a shaky voice Akane said, "Daddy, you know I love you, what could be so bad?"

Soun stared at his baby girl he knew that she loved Ranma even though they may have fought and taunted one another it was plainly obvious how much she loved that boy. As well as how she would come to his side when times would get tough. You could also see her get jealous when the other fiancées would come around and it was painfully obvious that she cared deeply for him.

That is why it was important for her to know that she shouldn't pursue the girl Ranma. The schools couldn't be joined that way either and he would die before he saw his daughter get a curse to turn into a man. "Akane, now that Ranma is 100% a girl with the locking of her curse, I have decided to end the engagements between our family's. The schools can no longer be joined and it would be idiotic to try anything else." He said sternly trying not to get any eye contact with his youngest child.

"What!? Why, I… I… love Ranma and I'm not going to give up on him just because he is a girl now, I only care about the person on the inside. It doesn't matter what Ranma looks like that's still Ranma!" Akane exclaimed as a few tears leaked out of her eye's. Ryoga was silently cheering inside, ' _Now my chances with Akane-san are even higher. All I have to do is get up the courage to ask her. Man, life has never been sweeter thank you Kami-Sama, Thank you.'_

"Akane!" Soun paused slamming his fist down on the table, "I forbid you to try and swoon another woman you are the heir to the Tendo line and I will not have society look down upon you or our family."

"But, Daddy Ranma is a boy!" Akane cried.

"Akane dear, let me ask you something, would your opinion of the Ranma yesterday be that of a girl who would like to be with other girls?" Nodoka asked gently.

"No, but what does that have to do with anything?" Akane pleaded.

"Yesterday when she went into her episode she told me that there was no way that she could marry another woman Akane." Nodoka said.

"I don't understand what you're saying that was a different Ranma that one is the real Ranma!" She pointed upstairs. Ryoga was staying quiet and thinking about what Nodoka was implying, ' _She couldn't mean that Ranma is… nah no way macho man Ranma.'_

"Akane dear, I believe that the pill might have done more than just lock Ranma's curse or sap her of her martial arts. Cologne did say she would be a real teenage girl." Nodoka sighed deeply. This hurt her more than she thought it would. She knew Akane deeply loved Ranma, but she also had a funny way of showing it.

"Akane, you have to understand that Ranma may be different now. This is what you always wanted isn't it?" Kasumi interjected.

Soun spoke up before Akane could answer, "Akane, you can't be with Ranma anymore it is improper and shameful." He reached up and started scratching his chin, "You know maybe the boy was always like that. He always did seem to enjoy those girly competitions, and had all those other girls throwing themselves at him? What say you Ryoga?"

Akane spoke up before Ryoga could say anything, "Your all lying Ranma had to do all those things in order to protect me and because of those stupid rules his father had he couldn't decline any challenge!" She turned her head to Ryoga, "Right Ryoga?" she said sheepishly hoping beyond all hope Ryoga would do the same.

Nodoka spoke up, "My son was not that way Mr. Tendo and I do not want you to squander his name." she said sternly, "that being said I still would like to hear Ryoga's answer."

' _They're trying to say that Ranma doesn't… I mean it kind of makes sense he had Akane this whole time and never asked her out, kissed her, or treated her right. He also had all those other girls throwing themselves at him, he even tried to use his girl form against me several times… No, don't think that. But, I know what I would do in Ranma's shoes I would act completely different, I have to look good in front of Akane-san too.'_ Proud of the answer he found he straightened his posture and spoke with a passion, "Mr. Tendo, I would choose the girl that I loved and settle matters with all the other suitors that got in the way. There is no way I would allow myself and my future wife to be burdened by the ones I didn't love, and I would always be by her side like a true man should be." Nodoka and Kasumi both felt joy in his words thinking this boy would make a woman very happy someday.

"You are a better man than I would be at your age Ryoga." He paused and turned to face his youngest daughter, "You see Akane, Ranma can't love you back and even if she did it would be improper and shameful." Soun said sincerely trying not to upset Akane.

"But… Daddy… you can't I won't give up on Ranma!" She exclaimed crying and run upstairs to her room.

Saddened by the turn of events Soun sighed deeply before saying, "I don't think I could have hoped for a better outcome, but it's getting late I'm going to turn in for the night." He got up slowly and walked up to his room.

"I think it's getting late as well, I will go grab Ranma and help her bathe." Nodoka said getting up from her seat and climbing the stairs.

"Ryoga-kun, I'll get us some more tea and here is the remote for the T.V. while we wait for our turn in the furo." She got up walked over to the T.V grabbed the remote and handed it to Ryoga before walking back into the kitchen.

Ryoga was left stunned after the previous conversation. He flipped on the T.V. trying to find something to get the thoughts of Ranma out of his head that were too disturbing to think about.

* * *

Ryoga ended up getting caught up in a show on T.V. and opted to be the last one to take a bath. Before long Ryoga left the furo and headed for Ranma's room, or as he knew it the guest room. He walked down the hall wearing only a towel around his waist and another thrown over his shoulder. He had completely forgotten about Ranma being stuck and the previous conversation with the Tendo's after the nice relaxing bath and mind-numbing T.V. show.

He reached the door and swung it open and blinked a few times in confusion as he looked around the room. This was definitely not the guest room he remembered. That wasn't all that surprised him there was a red-headed girl wearing blue pajamas with cherry blossoms on them sitting in front of her vanity brushing her hair. She turned to face him with a surprised look then yelped, jumped, and the ran to her bed ducking under the covers.

' _Dammit I must have gotten lost again, I need to explain it to her, maybe she can help me find my way back to the Tendo's. She was a cute girl too.'_ Blushing Ryoga approached the bed cautiously trying not to spook the poor girl any more than he already did. "I'm… sorry miss, I uhh, I think I got lost do you know where the Tendo dojo is by any chance?"

Ranma, on the other hand, was worried looking up she saw Ryoga clad in nothing but a towel approaching her in her bed. ' _What the hell is Pig-Butt thinking why the hell is he basically naked, and why the hell is he getting closer!'_ She saw him approach her side of the bed and lean down to say, _"I'm sorry miss, I uhh, I think I got lost do you know where the Tendo dojo is by any chance?"_ She lowered the covers a little from her face then glared at him. "Ryoga what the hell are you thinking! Pervert! Put some damn clothes on!" She exclaimed grabbing one of many pillows from behind her with her good arm and threw it at him.

Ryoga was hit in the face by the pillow and got thrown back. He blinked a few times then looked around the room, he noticed the walls were the same as the guest room before besides the posters, and the floors was the same except for the giant rug of a horse. He looked back at the pretty blue eyed, red-headed girl, with a sling on her arm then asked "Ranma?"

"Yeah it's me damn are ya stupid or somethin P-chan no wonder I could trick you so easy all those times! Now put some clothes on would ya!" Ranma exclaimed with a blush as she was staring at Ryoga's almost naked body.

"What the hell! why does the guest room look like this and why are you acting like such a girl!" Ryoga snapped back finally noticing that this was his rival.

"I am not acting like a girl! And, I'm stuck like this for at least the next six months so get used to it!" She grabbed another pillow and threw it at him hitting him in the face. "NOW PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON!" She yelled.

Ryoga was about to snap back before her words finally sunk in he was wearing nothing but a towel in front of a girl that he just found out might actually like men. He quickly looked around the room and saw the futon strung out on the floor in front of the dresser with his pack next to the wall. Running over he dropped the towel and grabbed his clothes out of his pack.

"Ahh!" Ranma screamed as she pulled the covers over her head to not look at a naked Ryoga, "What the hell is wrong with you are you trying to give me a peep show or somethin!?" She exclaimed which was muffled slightly from her head being under the covers.

Ryoga stood up from rummaging through his pack with his clothes in his hand as he looked down to see he was stark naked. He was slightly glad to see Ranma was hiding under the covers in her bed. Feeling embarrassed he quickly dressed in his sleepwear which were some old worn yellow pajamas. Scratching the back of his head and with a completely red face, he said, "Uhh, sorry Ranma, I guess I wasn't thin…" he paused as a realization hit him, "Hey wait a minute what's your problem we've even bathed together before. I can't even count how many times we have seen each other naked!" He said as he stomped over to the side of the bed.

"Are you dressed yet, I don't want another peep show Bacon-Breath?" She asked as her head was still under the covers.

"Yes, I'm dressed dammit now answer the damn question!?" Ryoga barked.

Slowly she lifted her head out from underneath the covers her eyes still locked tight and her face red as a beet with the image of a stark naked Ryoga still fresh in her mind. "What do you mean pig boy, it's just different OK, and why didn't you change in the bathroom like everybody else huh?"

"Clearly, it's different you won't even open your damn eyes, stop hiding like a girl Ranma!" Ryoga proclaimed with anger.

Ranma slowly creaked one eye open to make sure Ryoga was clothed before jumping out of the bed and marching up to him as best she could. The top of her head barely came up to the bottom of his chest. She poked a finger in his abs and looked up at him staring him down, "Look don't ever come in here naked again! Got it-it's just weird alright!"

Ryoga was about to exclaim something about he wasn't naked and he was wearing a towel when something red caught his eye in the middle of Ranma's bed. He marched passed her and grabbed the stuffed red piglet that resembled his pig form almost perfectly. He then turned to face Ranma with the piglet in his hand. Angrily he shook the stuffed animal in Ranma's face exclaiming, "And, what the hell is this huh Ranma, is this another one of your sick jokes? I swear your always making fun of me every chance you get. Here I am helping you and you have to pull this crap!"

Ranma went wide-eyed staring at Miss. P she didn't even think about Ryoga seeing that. She ran up to Ryoga and tried grabbing for the stuffed piglet, but he was too tall and just held it up high where she couldn't reach it. She started jumping up and down trying to grab at the stuffed piglet with her one good arm as she was screaming, "Give her back! Give her back!"

With his right arm extended above his head, there was no way she was going to reach the piglet. "You're never getting this toy back you jerk."

They argued like this for several minutes before Ranma had enough she stopped trying to grab her piglet from Ryoga and turned to walk out of the room. Ryoga snickered, "Giving up already, princess?!" as he started to toss the toy in his right hand up in the air catching it over and over.

She reached the door turned around and said, "NO! if you want 'a play unfair I'm gonna to play unfair." And with that, she exited the room and slammed the door behind her.

Nabiki was in her room trying to fall asleep, and with shouts and screams being heard all throughout the house it was making that process very difficult. She threw a pillow over her head and rolled over before she heard someone knock on her door. Groaning the entire time, she sat up and walked over to see who it was and slung the door open angrily saying, "What?"

Looking up at the taller girl Ranma asked, "Hey you weren't, asleep were ya?"

Rolling her eyes with a displeased look on her face she said, "No, I guess not what's the problem?"

"Ok, good I need your help Ryoga is being a jerk and took…" she paused and looked down as she started scratching her right arm with her left one that was in a sling, "well umm, Miss. P away from me he won't give her back either."

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "You mean the stuffed toy Akane's friend got you yesterday?"

Looking back up at the taller girl she said "Yeah, that's the one, would you help me Nabiki? Akane seemed angry after dinner for some reason and I don't feel like getting hit so you're my only option, cause I can't beat the stuffin out of pig boy right now." Ranma pleaded.

Nabiki glared at Ranma for a moment almost wanting to take back the friend thing, but gave in, "Fine, Ranma just stay here." She waved for Ranma to enter her room, "and I'll be back with your toy." Groaning she walked passed Ranma and walked down the hall to enter the guest bedroom.

Ryoga was sitting on the bed looking closely at the stuffed animal wanting to rip it to pieces so that Ranma couldn't use it to make fun of him anymore. But, couldn't bring himself to do it. Something inside of him was telling him that he was in the wrong. Ranma had referred to the toy as hers and didn't even make a remark about it resembling him. Looking at the piglet even closer at eye level. ' _You are kinda cute I can see why she would like it, but why would she want a stuffed piglet? Great, I'm already referring to Ranma as a girl…'_ he was brought out of his musings as the door shot open before he saw who it was who entered the room he snapped at them, "So you came back Princess, I thought you-" his eyes bulged as he realized who had just entered the room.

She leaned against the closed door and put on a cute smile and fluttering her eyelashes Nabiki said, "Oh, I never knew you thought of me that way Ryoga-Kun." She started laughing as she saw his face blush and looked away.

"I… uh… um.." Ryoga stuttered.

As her laughter died down she stated, "Now, give me Ranma's toy so I can go back to bed." Sternly putting on her best Ice queen face.

Ryoga's anger shot back up and confidence came back, "Never! that jerk only got this thing to make fun of me. Even after I agreed to help him, he still goes out of his way to make my life hell." He slammed the stuffed piglet into the bed he was sitting on and held it there.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow, "So, you think that after Ranma got attacked she waited for you to agree to help her. Then she snuck off by herself to go buy a stuffed animal just to spite you? you really are stupid you know that."

Ryoga lifted his hand off of the compressed piglet on the bed, "I uhh well." ' _I never thought of that, but he did have it maybe it was for a scheme he had planned.'_ "Yeah well, he probably bought it before all this happened to make fun of me, that jerk!" he snarled.

Rolling her eyes, "It's too late to be dealing with this." Nabiki marched over and pointed a finger in the lost boy's face. "But, I'll have you know that she got it yesterday and she was super excited about it. I even heard that she was bouncing in the mall exclaiming how cute the thing was. Akane was there with her friends and they bought it for her. She didn't buy it to make fun of you I can assure you of that." She grew a mischievous grin and leaned forward in Ryoga's face, "Eh, P-chan."

Ryoga left eye twitched then his eyes grew wide in realization, "You knew!? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Because it's better to have one of the most powerful martial artists in town under my little finger I was just waiting for the right moment to use it. Now hand over the toy and apologize to Ranma when she comes back or I'll tell Akane, and she was not in a good mood after dinner." She leaned back and put a finger on her chin. "I would hate to see what kind of meal she could make out of pork, although even with you as the main ingredient I'm sure it wouldn't taste very good."

With his head hung low he extended his right arm and dropped Miss. P into Nabiki's hands begrudgingly saying, "Fine!"

"Thank you now that wasn't too hard, now was it?" she turned on her heels and exited the room with the stuffed piglet in her grasp. _'Honestly, you would think he would think things through more. He gets all flustered over a stuffed piglet that is making fun of him. It was not that hard to put two and two together just now. Especially after all the pig insults, Ranma throws around all the time.'_

Ryoga walked over to his futon and sat down waiting for Ranma to reenter the room. He had promised to apologize and that's what he was going to do. He sat there getting angrier and angrier. He wanted to hurry up and get this over with so he could finally go to sleep. The scowl on his face and the anger from his aura was filling the room as he waited impatiently.

Then finally the door opened and in walked Ranma, but something was different now. His anger faded out and he felt bad as he saw her walk back into the room. She was carrying her stuffed animal and looked like she had just been betrayed by someone she thought cared about her. He could see it in her eyes and her facial expression as she completely ignored his presence keeping her head straight forward the entire time. As she walked directly to her bed and climbed in. ' _Maybe I was a jerk, I treated her badly and made fun of her manhood she will never have that again. What if I was stuck as a pig and Ranma had made fun of me about only being a pet or only good for bacon.'_ Ryoga lowered his head and felt shame he had to apologize. He got up off of his futon and walked over and sat down on her bed. As she felt his pressure pushing down on the bed she scooted away from him as far as she could.

Ryoga sighed deeply before speaking, "Look Ranma, I'm sorry I shouldn't have come in here… practically naked and jumped to conclusions about your umm… toy or whatever."

Ranma sat there not saying anything for a moment and pondered his words. She gritted her teeth as she leaned up and faced him and her eyes looked like they were about to let down a storm of tears, but not one drop came, "C-can I-I ask you a question?"

Ryoga blinked a few times, that was not the response he thought he was going to get, "Umm, sure shoot?"

She looked down and fidgeted nervously, "W… well umm, are we ya know, umm, friends?" she looked up with hopeful eyes.

Ryoga stared at her pondering the question. ' _Are we friends? My whole life goal has been to defeat Ranma Saotome, and now I can't even bring myself to do that anymore. He's been defeated by someone else, and I can't even touch this Ranma if I did I would break her. Ranma has saved me countless times before why can't we be friends?'_ He looked up at the ceiling for a moment then looked back down staring at her, "You know we have known each other since Junior High, and I think I can let go of the past." He reached out with his hand, "Friends." He said with a smile.

She smiled at him with a big grin and shook his hand before saying, "Thanks, Pig boy!" and she fell back giggling.

"Dammit, Ranma I should have known you jerk!" Ryoga anger flared and he was about to attack her forgetting she was weakened, but stopped when she sat up and put on a serious face. That stopped him dead in his tracks as she said, "Sorry, I had to get one more in. I'll try to not say it as much kay."

He looked at her with quizzical eyes then stood up from her bed walking towards his futon as he muttered, "It's alright Princess."

Her left eye twitched a little at that comment as she turned over in her bed throwing the covers over the top of her before saying, "Fine, I guess I'll let you have that one. Turn out the light would ya, I'm ready to go to sleep." When she was falling asleep she had a smile on her face. Ryoga seemed to be the only person who was treating her like normal and that made her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Groaning Ryoga walked over to the door flipped off the switch and walked back over to his futon. He climbed into it and felt at peace for the first time since he set out on the mission to destroy Ranma Saotome, and sleep overtook him easily.

* * *

Downstairs in the kitchen sat the mother of one and the wife of a father who would rather sell his child for a pickle than work to put food on the table. She sat there on a stool leaning over the edge of the counter with a flask of sake and a cup to pour it in. Mulling over some papers she had made up over a decade ago. flipping through them one by one analyzing them like she hadn't been looking at them every day since her husband left with their child.

She poured herself another shot of sake and swung it back it was her fourth one tonight. A lone tear fell from her eye as she thought back on all the lost times she could have had with her son if she would have just made her husband sign these papers instead of the pledge. She heard someone sigh deeply behind her and in a panic, she tried to hide the papers.

"Don't stop on my account, I know my friend is not a very good husband or father."

She turned her headand saw Soun standing there watching her with saddened eyes, "I-I thought everyone had gone to bed, I-I'm sorry."

"Don't be... I couldn't sleep, I came down here for this too." He reached up into the cabinet above and grabbed a cup for his sake, then poured one and shot it back, as he took a seat next to Nodoka. "You know I used to always envy my old friend, he had a loving, healthy, and dedicated wife, as well as a son who was caring, compassionate, and honorable. You may not have been around Ranma, the man Ranma as long as I have but let me tell you." he poured himself another shot and slung it back, "he was someone to be proud of and always put others before himself. He has saved all of our lives countless times, he kept this dojo and household from falling out of the Tendo name, and I will always think of him as the son I never had." He took another shot, "It's a shame that my friend can't do the same and I pray that he comes to his senses soon." He reached over and put a hand on top of Nodoka's and looking into her eyes. "I just have to ask, give him one more chance to see the error of his ways before making him sign these. I know he doesn't deserve it, but do it for Ranma the... girl deserves to have a chance with her father."

Nodoka broke into a sobbing mess and flung herself at Soun as he wrapped his arms around her and started consoling her. "I… will, for… Ranma…, but… only one… one more chance. You're a good man Soun."

Soun picked up the Sake and put it up in the cabinet, then gingerly grabbed the papers. "C'mon you're sleeping in my room tonight." He said softly and kindly.

She looked up at him with a confused look and tear streaks running down her face, "I can't that would be wrong Soun." She could see that he had no lustful gaze in his eyes, he did not want to take advantage of her, and he was not trying to take Genma's place. The only thing she saw in his eyes were those of sadness and a depth of understanding that she had never seen before.

Looking down at the crying women in his arms he felt anger and sadness. How could his friend leave his wife in such a state? He took a deep breath before speaking, "No, it's not, after my wife passed I cried almost every night by myself, and I know you had to cry many nights alone while they were gone." Sighing deeply he continued, "I'm not going to leave you crying in the dojo alone it would be dishonorable not only to myself but… to my friend." He wrapped his arms around her as she began sobbing once more and guided her up to his bedroom.

He helped her into his bed and tonight she didn't have to cry over the loss of her son and her husband alone. She had someone there who knew what was like on a deeper level to be alone more than anyone else. The thoughts of her son and her husband were forgotten from her mind just as the thoughts of Soun's wife left his. They both fell sleep easier and more content than any night ever since the unfortunate events happened in their lives.

* * *

 **A/N: I am a guy so I have no clue about bras or any undergarments for that matter. I did a google search and clicked on the first link so if what I said in this story is inaccurate leave a comment and I will gladly update the story. Also, I have no clue how women would feel running in boxer shorts. I only read the story "A trip to self" (Trugeta) and decided that I would use one of his/her ideas about why Ranma and Kasumi switched from boxer shorts to briefs (or whitey tighties). If you have no clue about what I am talking about then I suggest you read her/his story. That's the end of chapter two. In Chapter three we get to see Ryoga's first day back to school, and more RanmaXRyoga moments. I spent a lot of time editing and fixing things in this chapter and I like this format a lot better. So, I might go back and fix chapter one before I post chapter three. It is what people first see when they read this story, so sorry if there is a delay for chapter three come next Friday. C'ya soon!**

* * *

 **-Leave a review if you want to good or bad they will only make this story better and make me a better writer.-**


	3. Just Like Old Times

Ranma's Punishment or is it?

Chapter 3: Just Like Old Times

 **A/N: Ranma and Ryoga will appear to be slightly OOC in this chapter. Ranma because if you haven't figured it out yet it's the pill, and Ryoga because he is never really that nice to Ranma in the Manga or Anime. That can't really be helped in a RanmaxRyoga fanfic though. I mean you can't have people who hate each other be a couple. That's just not how relationships work. Well, not the one's I like to read about at least.**

 **Special thanks to: James Birdsong, Littlegamer1313, Aceina, and Screaming Dean who all left reviews.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma** **in any way shape or form and I am not trying to use this to make any money. Ranma** **is owned by Rumiko Takahashi and not by me.**

* * *

 _Darkness was all around it was all I could see. It was like I was lost floating inside of an empty vacuum of space, but looking around I have been here before I know I have… I don't want to be here… I don't want to be here. While I'm floating just waiting for the next step I can't help that I'm getting scared. I don't want to go back there ever, but I know I have to... I know I have to... Then the next step came as the great big towering walls of soil and clay began to sprout up around me and I hit the ground with a load thud. It's so cold down here. I hate it, I hate being here, why won't Pop's learn I can't do this…I can't do this…_

 _I can hear the screaming and calling the meowing and hissing the screeching and yelling. And, I know there just starving, but so I am I Pop's hasn't let me eat anythin' in days. They're getting closer now I can tell by looking at their glowing murderous yellow slit eyes._

" _No! Stay back, stay away!" I screamed as I ran back as far as I could, as fast as I could, but I know it won't help they always get me. Every time I'm here I run away, but I know they will always get me cause there is only so far, I can run... I'm as far back as I can get now curled up into a ball at the back of the pit. I know it won't be long now, I-I know what they'll do… I know what they'll do..._

 _Looking out at the image I have seen time and time again of the eyes, the eyes that haunt me. I can see that there are hundreds of them maybe thousands, how the hell did Pop's get so many! Wait, what's… what's he doing here, maybe... maybe he'll help. I don't care if asking for help is weak… I don't care… if Pop's is stupid enough to leave me in here then he doesn't care about me anyways..._

 _I can see him standing off behind the demons he's wearing a yellow shirt, dark green pants, with shoes that were tied up almost to his knees. He's wielding an umbrella a red and black umbrella. He was doing nothing but standing there emotionless watching the demons get closer to me._

" _Ryoga, please...please help!"_

 _I screamed hoping he will do something anything really I-I hate being here... I hate being in here... The eyes of the demons are at my feet now, I can feel their claws starting to sink into my skin as I cry out in pain. Slash after slash their cutting into me over and over. I've been through this before and it's worse every time. He's just standing there watching. He's watching me get attacked over and over why won't he help me? Can't he see that I can't defend myself…_

" _Ryoga please… please… help!" I'm shouting it over and over again now while I'm trying to kick the demons back. But, mainly it's just to take my mind off of the demons that are attacking me. The pain is horrifying I can feel their claws cutting through me like a stick of butter. Their teeth are sinking down into my own flesh like a lion that is biting into its pray. The screeching and the yelling, and the hissing and the meowing are making it even worse, but the worst part is I know he isn't going to help he's probably over there laughing at me…_

 _He hates me I know he does, and it doesn't even make any sense. Why is he even here? If he is smart he'll just let the cats kill me that's what I deserve anyways. Pop's always says it I'm worthless, I'm acting like a girl, I'm shameful, and I'm a disgrace to him. It's better this way now Pop's won't have a worthless son..._

" _Stay back!" with one slash of his umbrella he threw all the demons away, he turned to me. This has never happened before. Why is it happening now? He's reaching a hand down, "Ranma are you alright?" he said. Does he actually care? I have to find out…_

"Ryoga… please… please help!" Those screams brought the lost boy out of his slumber he jolted up grabbing his umbrella that was leaning against the wall. He looked around the room to see who was attacking. But, he found no one as the screams continued, and he found out where they were coming from.

Ranma was on her bed kicking and screaming for help. She was sweating even though it was chilly inside the house, her blankets were all thrown off of her and her hair was a mess. Some of it was stuck to her forehead from sweat while the rest of it was all sprawled out behind her. Walking over to the frightened girl who was having a nightmare, he placed a hand on her shoulder it made her jump at first but then she seemed to relax.

"Ranma are you alright?" He asked as he was deeply concerned he had seen Ranma have nightmares before when they would be on some sort of expedition to try and find a cure for their curses, but he had never seen one this bad. He had seen Ranma have some bad ones but they could never find anything to calm Ranma down or bring Ranma out of a nightmare, and Ranma had never screamed for help. ' _Why did just touching her shoulder… stop it?'_ He thought.

It's was then that he saw her eyes fluttered open, but he could tell by their lifelessness that she was still asleep. She turned and stared at him for a brief second looking up at him. She then used her right arm to grab onto his shoulder and bring herself up to a better position. Ryoga froze he didn't know what to do, but he did know that you weren't supposed to wake someone who was sleepwalking and if Ranma's eyes were open and she was sleeping then she was defiantly sleepwalking right?

Her face was slowly getting closer to his as he could feel her breath rinsing over his own face, he could smell her. She smelled sweet like flowers or honey. _'Her mother must have used her own shampoo on her'_ He thought.

He was brought out of his thoughts as her lips touched his and his mind went blank for a second. It was only a small peck on the lips, but it was like a lightning bolt had gone through his entire body. The only thing on his mind was how beautiful she was, her red hair that was like someone lit a fire on top of her head, and how cute and adorable she looked as she began to lay back down with her little-stuffed piglet. Before she passed back out he heard her whisper, "You do care…"

He sat there on the edge of her bed blinking several times while looking down at her trying to figure out what just happened. He shook his head, ' _Ok, so Ranma kissed me she probably thought I was someone else… but it did feel amazing… shouldn't I feel disgusted… or hate her… but I don't I can't stop thinking about it. It was the best feeling in the world. I have never felt anything like that before in my entire life! But, Ranma was… but she isn't anymore, she may not know it but she is a girl now… so it's not wrong that I have these feelings for her right? I mean I would never admit it, but her girl side was always attractive to me. Hell, I even said it when I first found out about her curse.'_ He turned his head to look down at the sleeping beauty who laid there shivering.

He grabbed the blankets from the bottom of the bed and was about to cover her when he noticed her left arm and had an idea, ' _we use our own Ki to heal I wonder if I could…'_ Without too much thought he placed his hand over her left shoulder and focused as much as he could while mustering all of his strength and Ki.

He was trying to remember every time he was injured in the same way and forced his Ki into that precise spot. There was a bright green light that shot out from the palm of his hand where it was resting on her shoulder forcing him to close his eyes. He heard her groan for a second and then it was over. Ryoga didn't know if he had succeeded, but he knew that he felt completely drained like the first time he had used the Shi Shi Hokodan. He couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and he passed out right next to the redhead.

* * *

"Ranma, Ryoga dears breakfast is about ready you should get bathed and ready for school."

From the knocking and morning call that her mother made she fluttered her eyes open. She could tell instantly that something was off. Someone had arms around her and she was being held the same way she held Miss. P the feeling was warm, comforting, and felt good. But, she also banished those thoughts as she needed to get out of these arms. Pushing with all of her might she couldn't budge the arms that were gently embracing her. She turned over to see the person that was causing her great pleasure and discomfort. ' _Dammit Ryoga, you're really cute when you sleep… What the hell! Stupid girl brain, stupid girl brain!'_

"Oi, Pig-butt what the hell are ya doi'n!" Ranma screamed in the lost boy's ear, "Let me go dammit!"

Sleepily and groggily Ryoga smacked his mouth open a few times before yawning. When his senses came too he noticed someone was in his arms and if felt nice. As he opened his eyes wondering who he had fallen asleep with he noticed a very irate redhead glaring up at him. "Huh… uh sorry…" he said as he opened his arms and Ranma bolted up out of the bed angrily.

"Ya know it's one thing to climb into Akane's bed sleeping as a pig and it's another thing to sleep with me as a _guy_!" Ranma exclaimed glaring at the boy who finally came to realize what he had done.

Ryoga bolted up from the bed and put his hands up defensively saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to I…" he paused remembering the events of last night, "Hey did it work?"

Ranma looked at him curiously, "What the hell is your problem you got a screw loese or somethin'… wait did what work, what the hell did you do?!"

Ryoga eyed the redhead and looked at her left arm it was still in a sling, "I tried to heal your shoulder, maybe it didn't work." He hung his head in shame. ' _Damn I was sure I did something the way it knocked me out.'_

Ranma thought about this for a second. Then she realized her shoulder didn't hurt and when she bolted up from the bed she didn't feel any pain in the slightest from the jarring movement. She started to slowly move her shoulder up and down then in a full circle. She then realized it didn't hurt anymore at all. ' _Huh, maybe Ryoga did do somethin… still doesn't explain why he was in my bed.'_

She slipped off her sling for one final check to make sure she was completely healed then walked to Ryoga. She easily slid under the lost boy's gaze as she looked him in the eyes. She replied with a comforting tone of voice, "Hey thanks, I think ya did actually fix my shoulder… but why were ya in my bed?"

Ryoga perked up as he seen Ranma standing there and saw her sling laying on the floor on the other side of the bed. He looked back down at the petite redhead, "I uhh, well I can explain… see when I did it I kinda passed out." He then started chuckled nervously for a second.

Ranma blinked at him several times, ' _Guess that makes sense, never thought of Ryoga as the type of guy who would just start sleeping in someone else's bed especially mine. Well unless he's a piglet and it's Akane.'_ All of her anger was now gone how could she stay mad at him he had repaired her shoulder and subconsciously Ryoga saved her in her dream. "Well, I guess it's alright then, just don't do it again... Mom said breakfast was almost ready so I'ma go wash up." she seemed to pause then said, "Oh, and there is a spare school uniform that I never wore in the closet it should fit ya."

After She said that she turned on her heal and started walking out of the room. She never noticed Ryoga watching her walk out of the room. He only did so for a few second before diverting his eyes to the ground and blushing profusely. ' _Dammit, I can't like Ranma like that I have to like Akane. I wish I could go get lost right now...'_ He then walked over and grabbed the spare uniform deciding to get ready for the day.

After everyone had cleaned up they all sat down for this morning's meal. Ranma sat next to her mother and everyone else was in their usual spots except Ryoga had taken Ranma's usual seat and everyone else moved down a bit to make room. Ranma didn't even protest or make any comment or remark she simply just let Ryoga have her spot and they were getting along perfectly fine.

This was odd behavior coming from the two of them as everyone at the table noticed. It was even stranger because they had heard them fighting all last night and just recently in the morning. Although it was muffled so they couldn't make out much of what was said. Akane was the only one who didn't like how friendly Ranma was being with Ryoga it put a bad taste in her mouth. Nodoka noticed something was off while looking at her daughter, "Ranma, why are you not wearing your sling you heard Tofu you need to go put it back on." She said sternly.

Ranma grew a wide grin and the playfully nudged Ryoga with her elbow, "Nahh, no need mom, Ryoga here healed it." She said as she began to do motions with her left arm in circles to prove it didn't hurt anymore. "I think he's gonna become a nurse or somethin' now." She said playfully as she turned to grin at Ryoga.

Ryoga smiled down at her and took the joke just a friend should, "Yeah, and you'll make a great housewife someday Ranma." Ranma shot him a deathly glare before it grew into a smile then they both started busting out laughing.

Nodoka smiled at their friendly banter, "Well, Ryoga-kun, just how did you heal my daughter's shoulder, and if you could do it why didn't you do it earlier?" Nodoka asked. She was happy that her daughter was healed, but why didn't Ryoga do it sooner instead of waiting so long.

Ryoga nervously started rubbing his two fingers together, "Uhh, well you see Saotome-san, I… uhh… really wasn't sure it was going to work." He paused for a second thinking, "and well you see I remembered we use our Ki for healing. So, I figured since Ranma basically doesn't have any Ki in her than it would be easy for me to force my Ki inside her and heal her shoulder just like… how I would do mine."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow, "So, what you can like heal people now or something Hibiki?"

"Uhh, well no I don't think so if it would have been someone with more Ki than a normal person I don't think it would have worked, and just by healing Ranma's shoulder I passed out. So, no I don't think so I just got lucky it worked." He said with a smile then continued eating.

"Well, hey… I don't think I thanked ya for yesterday… and for helping and stuff." Ranma mumbled softly as she began to eat more. Ryoga didn't say anything and just shot Ranma a little gleeful smirk knowing full well just how hard it is for Ranma to thank him. No one else heard her maybe her mother did in the slightest, but no one else did.

Soon Ranma had finished eating first yet again and she said she needed to do something, so she grabbed all her dishes and headed for the kitchen. No, one paid her any mind as she got up to leave except Nodoka noticed something. She saw how Ryoga was staring at her child as she left and it made her smile at the young man.

* * *

Soon Nabiki, Akane, Ranma, and Ryoga were all on their way to school walking in the pleasant, but slightly chilly morning air. There were several clouds sprawled out over the sky that would cover up the sun every few minutes, but other than the slightly chilly breeze this morning was perfect if you weren't a one-hundred-pound four-foot-eight redhead wearing a dress. She wasn't freezing but she definitely wasn't all too thrilled about being cold, ' _Damn this girl body, it's so sensitive why does it have to make everything so cold. I'll never make fun of Akane again for saying it's cold outside for sure.'_ She shook it off and just put up with it as the group continued onward to school.

"You know I don't know why you have to hold his hand he can walk with us just fine by himself." Akane scoffed as she glared at Ranma who was guiding Ryoga.

Ranma looked at Akane then up to Ryoga, "What's her problem?" she asked Ryoga he shrugged as she began speaking again, "Well, I'll have you know Akane he might get lost and I ain't taking any chances. Plus, didn't ya hold his hand yesterday on the way home?" Ranma asked.

Akane snorted and turned up her head looking away from the two of them not saying a word. Ranma shrugged and looked back up at Ryoga smiling, "Hey this remind ya of us back in junior high?"

Ryoga blushed for a second, but it went unnoticed by everyone, "Well, yeah I guess you always did have to guide me to school back in the day." Ryoga said.

"Yeah, and you always helped me with my homework and stuff, maybe after ya get caught up we can do that again?" Ranma said smiling up at Ryoga.

"Yeah, I guess you… gotta deal." Ryoga said as he smiled nervously down at the redhead.

Ranma turned back towards Akane upon hearing Ryoga's words not catching his smile. "See Akane it's fine Ryoga doesn't care, and we're friends so why does it bother ya so much huh?" Ranma asked.

"It's nothing, I guess your right I don't know why I acted that way." Akane said. ' _Maybe it is nothing to be worried about their just friends and nothing more I mean this is Ryoga we are talking about, but I just can't help but think that I'm going to lose Ranma to someone else… is that selfish of me?'_ Akane asked herself in her head.

Nabiki who was watching the whole thing play out felt like she was caught between a rock and a hard place. Her sister and her new-found friend were basically in some sort of weird relationship/friendship/hating one another type of thing, and she wasn't sure who was in the right or who was in the wrong. At times, she felt her sister was right who should come between her and Ranma if they were in love.

But, if Ranma no longer wanted to be in that kind of relationship with another girl then Ranma defiantly had the right to find someone else. It's not like she was bound by any engagements any longer. So, Nabiki chose to stay quiet and keep her nose out of the situation. She merely just listened and noted all the information down secretly inside of her mental notebook.

Akane noticed Ranma kept taking glances up at the fence then would look back down at the ground with a saddened look on her face. "You know Ranma as bad as you may want to walk on top of that fence, it's probably not a good idea with you wearing a dress and all."

"I never said I wanted to, and even if I did it wouldn't matter your both girls and Ryoga won't look I trust em." Ranma said smirking at Akane, unconsciously she had squeezed Ryoga's hand when she said the last bit.

Nabiki who had not said anything this entire time finally had to know something, "So, after all that trouble you two caused me last night. You two are just best of friends now? Doesn't sound quite right to me." She said raising an eyebrow then continued, "Never thought I would see the day where the stubborn mule and the pig-headed boy would get along who would have guessed."

"Hey don't call, him that!" "Hey don't call, her that!" Ranma and Ryoga said in unison. Then they both looked at each other and looked away.

Ryoga was the first to respond, "Yeah, me and Ranma, put the past behind us last night. We're more friends now than rivals, and probably should have done this a long time ago. I can't tell you how good it feels to be free of trying to kill you all the time." he said looking up at the clouds.

Ranma looked up at him like he was crazy then looked back at Nabiki with a slight smile, "Uhh… yeah sure what he said." Ranma then started glaring back up at the fence it wouldn't be long until it would end, and she would lose her chance so she stopped walking and looked down at the ground. Everyone stopped to turn and looked at her. Ryoga was the first to speak up as he was still holding her hand, "What's wrong?" he asked confused.

Ranma let out a deep sigh then looked back up to the fence, "Ok, Akane was right, I really need to walk on the fence."

"Not even considering it's a bad idea. Can you even jump up there and keep your balance anymore Ranma?" Akane said sternly.

"No, I don't think I can, but that doesn't matter cause Ryoga here can help me." Ranma then turned to Ryoga, "See you can help me up there and just make sure I don't fall off kay."

"I don't know Ranma, Akane does have a point here. What if some people walk by I can't exactly stop them from looking when I'm helping you." Ryoga asked slightly pleading with Ranma to back down.

"Well, first of all, we only have a little ways to go until the fence ends and second thing Akane here can easily take out any perverts it's her specialty." She said with a fierce grin looking at Akane. Then turned to see Ryoga still wasn't buying into the whole plan. The way he was acting and as pig-headed as he is she was surely going to miss her chance at some balance training.

"OK, look Ryoga, have you ever had somethin in front of ya, almost staring at you, taunting ya all the time, and just begging for ya to do somethin'." She sighed, "Well, this fence is begging me to walk on it every day it's almost a part of me now. I didn't get to walk on it yesterday, and it secretly bugged me all day, so please?" She asked as she began to flutter her eyelashes and put on the I'm the cutest thing in the world act.

Ranma let out a quick girlish squeal as she was hefted off her feet and was now standing on the fence in a blink of an eye. She looked around and felt two arms on top of her shoulders as she looked back over one she saw Ryoga standing there, "OK, start walking Ranma, I'll make sure you don't fall."

She nodded as she began to walk on the fence smiling with her arms held out wide. It felt good to be doing something just like she used to even if she needed someone else's help to do so. That didn't matter to her she was just happy to be doing some balance training. They both walked like that all the way to the end and then jumped off heading down the streets towards Furinkan High.

Soon they all arrived at school as they walked through the front gates they hoped they wouldn't be stopped by the crazy antics of one Kendoist, but they were wrong. Kuno was standing with a horde of 'men' all behind him equipped and ready for a fight.

Groaning they entered the grounds and Nabiki quickly ran past the group and into the school. Kuno and the horde had no interest in her and she knew it. Plus she needed to handle Ryoga's paperwork.

Kuno quickly stepped forward with his bokken in hand, "Tendo Akane, I have come for my date as you can see I am now a _Man amongst Men_." He said as he waved behind him showing the men standing beside him. "Now my beauteous Tendo Akane, you are mine by right!"

Kuno stepped forward towards the group when Ryoga took a step-in front of him while he was still holding into Ranma's hand. "You stay the hell away from her!" Ryoga snarled.

Ranma knew that Kuno shouldn't technically be talking to her or Akane, but she wasn't going to bring that up. Because, as much as she hated Kuno she didn't want to delusional fool to die, so she knew she had to do something before Bokken-brains started attacking and get himself killed.

"Ryoga, just drop it kay, besides if he touched Akane or me he'd have to commit Seppuku." She stepped forward and looked up to Kuno, "Ya know that's not what being a man amongst men means right? Ya can't just buy people to stand by you. Ya have to be a man that surpasses… well… umm…" She paused then an idea popped into her head, "I'll tell ya what if ya beat my brother then you are a man amongst men." She said with a cocky grin.

Ryoga pulled on Ranma's hand jerking her back from Kuno as he whispered in her ear, "Ranma what the hell are you doing you can't beat him... not now anyway."

Kuno looked down at the redheaded girl, "You have a deal redheaded one. Your mother the vile women is the one who tricked me into this devilish agreement. So, tell me who is your brother so that I might smite thee." He proclaimed lifting his sword up to the heavens.

She whispered back to Ryoga, "Relax I know what I'm doing besides I can't change back anyway." After she waved off Ryoga she stepped forward, "My brother is Saotome Ranma, and he is the best martial artist in the world." She said proudly.

Kuno's eyes bugged out for a second, "It…It cannot be you and the foul sorcerer are brother and sister, but you are so elegant and full of beauty almost resembling my pig…" He leaned down and took a better look at the girl in front of him, "Tell me you are not also related to my pig-tailed goddess?"

Ranma rolled her eyes, "You mean my sister?"

"It is true then you must tell me her name, I must know the name of my true love!" Kuno proclaimed.

Groaning and rolling her eyes at his stupidity she said, "Geeze how dense can ya get, her name is Saotome Ranma."

"So, your name is Saotome Ranma, your brother is named Saotome Ranma, and my pig-tailed goddess is named Saotome Ranma? Why would such cruel parents do such a thing? It makes no sense I can't… I can't…" Kuno was left standing there astonished then started spitting out random bouts of poetry every few seconds.

"Ranma I think you broke him." Akane said as she as she leaned forward. She had watched the whole thing play out and was kind of amused as to what Ranma was doing. She knew she was safe from any attacks that Kuno did, and if he did he would be signing his own death sentence. And, even if he _did_ try _anything_ she would just punt him away like she always did. She then thought, ' _I wonder when Kuno will realize that he can't attack male Ranma either... Not that it matters I guess."_

"Yeah, yeah… you know I'm not the one who usually says this, but we should probly head in while he is still like this." Ranma said pointing to Kuno, Akane and Ryoga both nodded in agreement. They then proceeded to walk around the horde of 'men' and walk in through the front doors of the school.

Everyone upstairs that was watching everything happen noticed that Ranma was once again in girl form and she never let go of Ryoga's hand. So, the rumor mill in Furinkan high was starting to spin. Even with the information, Nabiki sold about Ranma being stuck it still didn't stop gossip from being spread.

As soon as the group came through the front doors they were met by Nabiki who cheerfully handed Ryoga a slip of paper. "Here, these are all your classes." She said.

Ryoga thankfully accepted the piece of paper that Nabiki handed him. He glanced at it then scowled crunching it in his hand in the process. Gritting his teeth, he turned to Ranma, "What the hell! You take the girls classes?"

Ranma nervously grinned at Ryoga, "hehe, well… ya see they wouldn't let me come to school unless I did, it's not so bad. I think you'll like Home Ec. it's actually a fun class." She turned to Akane, "Ain't it Akane?"

"Yeah Ryoga, it's really fun especially with Ranma there." She shot Ryoga one of her heart melting grins.

Ryoga upon seeing her grin almost caved in, but something was different so he turned back to Nabiki, "Look I'm a guy I can't be taking girls classes go get it chang-."

Ranma cut him off seeing where he was going. "Hey, cut it out with that crap, I'm a guy too and I'm taking it! Or, what are ya scared of taking some girly classes, huh?" Ranma said mockingly.

Gritting his teeth and clenching his right fist he turned to Ranma, and was about to say something but was cut off as Nabiki spoke up, "Look Hibiki, we don't have time for all of this all. We, only have about five minutes until first period starts. Just try it out for today and if it's really such a pain for you to take some _girly_ classes then I can help you get it changed for a price of course." She said with a mischievous smile.

Ryoga silently fumed inside of his head, as his knuckles turned white from clenching his fist and his teeth were getting worn down for the intense gritting session they were receiving he finally mumbled, "Fine, whatever let's just get to class."

After the discussion was over, they all headed their way into their own homerooms. Nabiki, of course, had a different one, but Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga were all headed towards a classroom where unbeknownst to them rumors had started to fly. Ranma was still holding Ryoga's hand the whole time, completely oblivious as to what she was causing among her peers or the weird stares they were getting on their way to their homeroom. As they entered the classroom Ranma guided Ryoga over to a desk behind her as Akane took her usual seat next to Ranma.

Ukyo watched the whole thing play out already knowing about Ryoga's direction problems so she thought nothing of Ranma holding Ryoga's hand, but the rest of Furinkan had other thoughts on the matter. As soon as the trio took their seats everyone was about to start asking questions but Ms. Hinako came into the classroom stopping every student in their tracks.

She walked over to her desk and promptly took out her clipboard to start calling the roll. But, as soon as she was going to start an aid came in carrying another note, handed it to her, and then left. Ms. Hinako read the note then looked up and noticed the new student who was already seated at a desk. She promptly added him to her roll call list then started speaking, "Well, class it seems we have a new student today, would you like to introduce yourself Mister Hibiki?" Ryoga nodded then got up from his desk behind Ranma and walked to the front of the classroom.

Facing his peers Ryoga started to Introduce himself, "Hi, my name is Hibiki, Ryoga, I'm currently staying with the Tendo's and I'm a martial artist." He said politely with a bow then proceeded to head back to his seat, or in the direction, he thought it was. He was about to walk out of the classroom when Ranma ran out from her desk and grabbed his hand leading him back into the classroom and to his seat. This set off a silent uproar throughout the classroom. Ryoga leaned in and whispered in Ranma's ear as they had both taken their seats, "Hey, thanks, man." Ranma just turned around and gave a thumbs up before Ms. Hinako called off roll call and started class.

About halfway through class notes started to pile up on Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga's desks. Akane outright refused to acknowledge them. Ryoga looked at them and was confused, but figured he should probably wait until after class to read any of them as he was already too far behind as it was. Ranma, on the other hand, was getting annoyed every time she was about to fall asleep another note would wake her up. Finally, she had, had enough of it and decided she wasn't going to sleep. So, she picked up a few notes and started to shuffle through them. She got to one and her eyes got huge as she read it. She looked around the classroom to see if anyone was watching her hoping she might see who wrote it but jumped as she heard the Ms. Hinako's voice.

"Miss Saotome it's one thing to have you sleep in my class it's another for you to be reading notes and distracting other students by looking around the room!" Ms. Hinako said sternly

"Sorry teach, I'll go stand out in the hall." Ranma said grouchily.

"No, since you want to read notes in my class why don't you read that one in your hand to the _whole_ class Miss Saotome." Hinako said glaring at the redhead who had already grabbed the bucket and was about to leave but paused when she heard that.

Ranma turned around with wide pleading eyes to face her teacher, "Uhh, I would rather go stand out in the hall teach."

"No, march over here and announce to the class what is so important that it distracted you from my teaching's." Ms. Hinako announced again.

Ranma's shoulders slumped and her head drooped as she walked to the front of the class and faced everyone in the room with her note in her hands. She took a deep inhale then exhale, as she sputtered off a super-fast incoherent mumble that no one made out then proceeded to walk back to her seat. But, was stopped as Hinako ran in front of her and waved her finger at Ranma, "No Miss Saotome, read the note now!" Ranma gritted her teeth then turned back around to face her entire class.

Ranma read the note again this time so quite no one could understand her. She then looked to Ms. Hinako for approval and found the teacher shaking her head in disapproval. Begrudgingly Ranma started reading the note, "That Hibiki boy-" Ranma turned her head back to the teacher, "Please Ms. Hinako?" she pleaded.

Ms. Hinako took out her five-yen piece and started to face Ranma, "You will read the note now Miss Saotome!" Ranma usually would have just opted to take the draining than read the note in front of her, but in her current condition, she didn't know how much damage or how long she would be out of commission for if she did get drained.

So, Ranma's face turned bright red matching her hair color as she proceeded to read her note to the entire class, "That Hibiki boy, is really… cute not to mention… his… rockin… umm… bod, good choice you go... girl." The entire class erupted in laughter as Ranma proceeded to walk with shame back to her seat. Akane was fuming and her left eye was twitching _'Now, everyone in school thinks Ranma and Ryoga are together… this is just great. Now I'm going to be that girl who lost her fiancé to another… ugh.'_

Ukyo was watching the whole thing happen and felt bad for Ranchan. She knew about Ryoga's extra curse and knew Ranma was just helping a friend like Ranma always does. ' _Sorry, Ranchan.'_ She was saying with her eyes as she watched Ranma walked back to her seat.

Ryoga during this whole thing was blinking with confusion still looking up at the front of the room with a slight grin on his face. He then began thinking, ' _Huh, someone thinks I'm cute? I never would have guessed. Man, I kinda wish me and Ranma weren't friends now this would be so much fun to throw back into her face.'_ As Ranma neared her seat she saw Ryoga's slight grin, and fumed, "Don't say anythin' Pig-boy!" Then she slumped into her desk then used her arms to hide her face as much as she could.

"Now class let that be a lesson no more passing notes or being delinquents!" Ms. Hinako said then proceeded to teach her lesson.

As Ranma was still slumped over her desk trying to hide her shame Ryoga patted her on the back reassuringly saying, "It's fine Ranma, I know it wasn't you who wrote the note." At this action, all the girls in the class thought Ryoga was trying to comfort his embarrassed girlfriend and let out an "Aww." Ryoga froze and he pulled his hand back slowly as Ranma turned around and clocked him in the jaw as hard as she could.

Of course, it did nothing to Ryoga, and silently Ranma was crying on the inside as it felt like she had just punched a steel bar. She turned around shaking her fist as she continued to bury her face for the rest of the day until lunch time came around. When the bell sounded and woke Ranma up from her slumber she hoped that the embarrassing events were just a part of her dream. But, the pile of notes to her right and the nudge of Ryoga standing next to her desk told her that it was real. "Ranma, I think it's time for lunch you awake?"

* * *

 **Lunch Time - Boy's**

' _Shoot everyone is going to make fun of me now, could today get any worse… Me and Ryoga just made up too and he is still being nice… ugh, Why? Why? Why? I should have just got drained. Would have been so much easier. I'm still gonna hafta hold Ryoga's hand too or he's gonna get lost ugh!'_ She thought as she stood up from her desk and grabbed Ryoga's hand. Ryoga immediately pulled it back, "You don't have to you know I can just lay my hand on your shoulder or something." He said looking at her with concern.

She looked up at Ryoga and fixed him an angry glare as she began to speak, "That would look even worse stupid, geeze do ya ever think huh?" She grabbed his hand forcefully, then looked him in the eye continuing, "Look I don't like it just as much as you do, but I'm not going to let ya get lost on me." She started pulling him through the class towards the open doorway, "What does it matter what everyone else thinks huh? Me and you know we're not together so whatever!"

As they started to make their way down the halls towards the stairwell Ryoga pondered her words for a moment, ' _I am the new kid around and I'm not really bothered by what the other people say anyways. I was mainly just worried about Ranma's reputation… what's wrong with me? Oh, right she kissed me and now my heads all messed up, ugh!'_ They started walking down the stairwell and were on the second floor before Ryoga replied, "Yeah, I guess your right doesn't matter."

Soon they made their way out to the tree that Daisuke and Hiroshi were already sitting at. Ranma led Ryoga over and introduced him to her friends, "Daisuke, Hiroshi, this is Hibiki Ryoga."

"Ryoga, this is Hiroshi." She pointed to the one on the right, "And this is Daisuke." She pointed to the one on the left. She then took her usual spot next to Hiroshi and Ryoga sat down next to her. After pleasantries and introductions were out of the way the two boys had to know the truth.

Hiroshi spoke up first, "So, Ranma is it tru-?"

"Dammit, I didn't bring anything for lunch!" Ryoga cut him off slamming his fist into the ground. Ranma looked at him for a second then reached into her book back and handed him a bento and then took out hers. She began to unwrap hers and dig in while Ryoga was staring at his and Hiroshi and Daisuke were staring between her and the bento she handed him.

Ryoga looked over to Ranma, "Huh, thanks did Kasumi or your mom make it?" has asked as he started to unwrap the bento and open it to see it was perfectly made.

Ranma nervously responded, "Umm, no they didn't make it…"

"Please tell me it wasn't Akane, Ranma I thought we were friends now!" Ryoga growled.

Ranma laid her chopsticks on top of her bento then glared at him, "No, Akane didn't make it either!" she then proceeded to start eating again leaving Ryoga blinking at her. "Well, who made it then?" he asked.

She started gritting her teeth then glared at Daisuke and Hiroshi, "You two better not say anythin'!" she then turned back to Ryoga, "I made it kay, I was just doing it to say thanks for helping and stuff, it's no big deal. Also, don't get used to it I ain't doi'n' it every day." She turned back to her meal and proceeded to eat as Hiroshi and Daisuke were at a loss for words.

Ryoga looked at his food then back at the redhead several times before speaking, "Uhh, well thanks." He then proceeded to break apart his chopsticks and start to dig into his perfectly made bento. As he took his first bite it tasted wonderful. Like a million different explosions of flavors that went together perfectly inside of his mouth. He couldn't contain his excitement over how good it was and started to eat almost as fast as Ranma normally would before pausing halfway through his meal as he said, "Wow, Ranma this is amazing, I never knew you could cook so well!" He then started shoveling the food back into his mouth.

Ranma looked up from her meal and started watching him eat with a big grin plastered on her face. ' _Wow, he really likes it I never knew it would make me feel that good. Feels kinda like when I mastered a new technique or somethin'. I guess he is kinda cute… no, no, no, what am I thinking stupid girl brain, stupid girl brain.'_

"Uhh, ha-ha, I'm glad ya like it, maybe I'll do it again I dunno." She said a little more nervous than what she intended to then noticed she had only eaten about half of her bento and she already felt full, ' _Damn I hate what that pill did, I barely eat anythin' anymore… I wonder...'_ She lifted her bento to Ryoga, "Here ya can have the rest of mine too I'm already done."

Ryoga eyed her bento and was about to grab it but drew his hand back, "Are you sure? I've been noticing that you don't eat very much lately are you sick or something?"

"Yeah Ranma, I've noticed that yesterday too what's the deal with that?" Daisuke cut in wanting to add something to the conversation.

"Here just take it Ryoga." She said then laid her bento on Ryoga's lap, "Well, I'm not really sure I think it has to do with that pill Happosai gave me or somethin'. I'm just not that hungry anymore, to be honest."

Ryoga nodded and started to tear into the extra bento as he had already finished off his. Hiroshi was itching for answers from the weird by play that was going on between his friend and new acquaintance. "Uh-huh, well so like I was going to ask earlier are you two a couple? I mean I don't have anything wrong with that you are a girl part of the time Ranma it's just kinda surprising is all."

Ryoga and Ranma both turned their heads and glared daggers at Hiroshi screaming, "NO!" In unison.

"Geeze, what the hell Hiroshi! Ryoga has a directional problem so I'm helping him not get lost that's all!" Ranma exclaimed.

Ryoga's anger went from glaring daggers at Hiroshi to glaring at Ranma, "What the hell Ranma I don't want people to know about that!"

She looked up at him confused, "Well, ya want people to think we're a couple or somethin'?

"It's better than people knowing I can't even find my way to the bathroom without holding someone's hand. At least this way people think I'm with a cute girl!" Ryoga flushed red as he said that and turned away. ' _Damn, damn, damn now she knows. You always do stuff like this, why can't I ever talk normal.'_

Ranma's face flushed a deep crimson as well as she blinked at Ryoga a few times. She then proceeded to clean up the finished bento's and stood up not letting anyone see her face as she said, "Dai, make sure Ryoga doesn't get lost I'm gonna go sit with Akane and her friends." She then started walking towards the direction of another tree that sat Akane, Yuka, Sayuri, and Ukyo.

 **Lunch Time – Girl's**

As the bell rang signaling lunch Akane, Yuka, and Sayuri all made their way to their usual tree outside of the front of the school. They all started on small conversations at first. But, Akane had other thoughts on her mind as rumors were spreading through the school like wildfire, and the late-night conversation kept bringing itself to the for front of her mind. It was making conversation very hard for her and her friends as she couldn't quite focus on anything and she just kept phasing out.

"Are you okay Akane, you seem like something is troubling you?" Sayuri asked.

She turned and looked over her shoulder to see Ranma sitting with Ryoga and her other friends then turned back and looked down at the ground, "It's just I don't know… it's probably nothing."

"If you're worried about the Ranma and Ryoga rumors we know they're not true. We remember you telling us before about Ryoga's directional problem, and it makes sense that he would want to help protect Ranma because of all the chaos in his er her life. It's nothing to worry about Akane, but do you think you could have a relationship with Ranma knowing that he is stuck as a girl?" Sayuri responded. With the worried look on Akane's face, she wanted to ask the question again.

Akane started poking at her food with her chopsticks, "I don't know, I want to try." She then looked back up to her friends, "It's another thing that bothers me too, what if the pill changed Ranma and she doesn't want a relationship with me anymore?"

Yuka came over and laid a hand on Akane shoulder, "Well, Akane you're just going to have to become her friend. I know it might be hard, but if that's the case then you will need to let her go, and find someone else. Ranma was a good guy and what happened is sad, but you need to do what's best for both of you."

"Look Akane, no one is going to judge you if you do try and make things work with Ranma, I know I won't. I know what Ranma really is and it's a weird situation, but if you never do try then you will never know, I say go for it." Sayuri said with a reassuring smile.

"Ah-oh looks like we have trouble." Yuka said as all three girls looked up to see Ukyo walking over to their group.

Akane was scowling harshly at Ukyo as she approached, "Hey sugar, I'm not here to fight I just figured we could be friends now that we know about Ranma's... umm situation." Ukyo said holding up her hands defensively.

Akane's face relaxed as she contemplated Ukyo's words, "I guess we can, you're not trying to go after Ranma?... Oh, and they know about Ranma's situation too. The real truth that is." She said as she pointed to Yuka and Sayuri and they both nodded in agreement.

Ukyo took her seat next to the three other girls as she looked at Akane in confusion, "Uhh, no sorry I have no interest in Ranma's girl half. I know that sounds wrong but I just can't do that. Are you still going to go after her?"

Akane's face went red and she started playing with her two index fingers, "Uhh, well I want to try, I don't know if it will work or not, but I feel like I have to at least try."

"Hmm, well good luck to you Akane, I never really thought you would swing that way Sugar, but whatever floats your boat I guess." She said as she pulled out her portable okonomiyaki kitchen, "Any of you want one? Remember friends eat for free." She said with a smile. Yuka and Sayuri both spoke up deciding to have one each.

"Really Ukyo I figured you of all people would go after Ranma's girl half. I mean you do dress as a guy and are enrolled as a guy. So, I just thought…" Akane said.

Ukyo poured some okonomiyaki batter on the grill as she began to speak, "Yeah, I thought so too, and I was really upset about losing Ranma this way, but every time I tried to think of being with a girl, even if it's Ranma. I just couldn't bring myself to go through with it. And, not trying to sound mean or make Ranma's situation out to be a good thing, but with male Ranma being gone he is almost considered dead."

She flipped the okonomiyaki as she paused then sighed as she began to speak again, "I mean female Ranma doesn't even really exist so I can be reinstated back into my clan as a female again." She then plopped both okonomiyaki's on a plate and handed them to Yuka and Sayuri. Not that anyone knew it but this was a show Ukyo was putting on. In reality, it was hard for her to look at the redhead knowing what she could have had. She had cried the whole night and every night since when she found out the news, but Kanatsu her 'waitress' helped her get through it all. She really just wanted to have some friends right now.

"Yeah, I guess I see what you me-" Akane said before she was cut off.

"Hey, speak of, the devil hey Ranchan!" Ukyo exclaimed waving to Ranma and received thankful looks from Akane followed by Yuka, and Sayuri as they looked up from their okonomiyaki.

Ranma approached the group of girls trying to hide her face, "Hey Ucchan." She said as she waved her hand and sat down next to Akane.

"You alright sugar? You want something to eat?" Ukyo asked as she threw some more batter down on her grill.

"No, just want to get away from those guys." Ranma said as she pointed to where she _was_ sitting.

"What's wrong Ranma, I thought you wanted to make sure Ryoga wouldn't get lost?" Akane asked and she couldn't help if a little bit of tension seeped into her voice.

Ranma flinched at Ryoga's name, "Uhh, nahh I asked Dai, to watch him just kinda felt weird being over their right now." ' _Why the hell did Ryoga have to go and say something like that, now everyone is going to have the wrong idea not to mention all the people who could have overheard the conversation…'_ She thought.

"Well, Ranchan I know the rumors about you and Ryoga ain't true so don't sweat it, but it might actually be a good thing you know?" Ukyo said as she took off the okonomiyaki she cooked and then started to clean the grill. ' _Well, guess this one is mine then…'_

Ranma looked at her like she was crazy, "And how do ya think this is a good thing huh, everyone is going to be making fun of me. The curse was enough for people ta call me a freak. Now if they think I'm being a girl on purpose to date a guy then there really gonna think that." She said sadly as she pulled her knees up and started hugging them.

"You are not a freak Ranchan! Don't ever let me hear you talk about yourself like that again do you hear me!" Ukyo exclaimed pointing her spatula at Ranma.

"That goes for me too Ranma, you're not a freak!" Akane exclaimed.

Ranma looked over to Akane, "Yeah your right I'm just a big pervert ain't I?"

Ukyo, Yuka, and Sayuri all glared daggers at Akane and she flinched. Akane then leaned over an placed and arm around Ranma, "Look Ranma, I should have never said those things you are not a pervert, and out of all the guy's I know you are the least perverted one. I mean you actually know what it's like to be starred at the way us girls do thanks to your curse. I just… I just said that because it seemed like a good insult just like when you call me a tomboy."

"I'm sorry Akane." She then slowly started to smile, "Hey, you know what I'll make you the same deal I made Ryoga. You try not to call me names I'll try not to call you names huh what do ya say?" Ranma stretched out her hand.

Akane and all the other girls smiled and the interaction, "Fine baka you got yourself a deal." She said giggling.

"Hey, I said no name calling tomboy!" Ranma said as she started giggling.

"Well now that everyone is in good spirits again. Like I was saying. This Ranma and Ryoga rumor could be a good thing for you Ranchan. Like when it comes to you using the girl's locker room." Ukyo announced.

"Oh, yeah I never thought of that. If everyone thinks you're in a relationship with Ryoga no girls will care that you're in the locker room." Sayuri exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, I never thought of that either. It would make things a lot easier when we have gym class." Akane announced. ' _I still don't like the idea but me and Ranma just had a good moment, and she doesn't seem interested at all in Ryoga so I think this will be fine.'_

"I don't know ya guy's think it's worth it?" Ranma asked.

 **Intercom speakers screeched open** – Good afternoon keiki's dis is da big Kahuna speakin, we gonna be havin' changes from the government. All you Keiki's gonna be havin gym class every day from now on. Lunch is ova too have fun – **Intercom speakers screeched closed.**

"Well, looks like you will find out today won't you Ranma." Yuka said smiling as Ranma started groaning.

"Ugh… guess I better go get Ryoga." Ranma stood up and started walking back to the other tree. She made it there and wearily grabbed Ryoga hand again.

As Ryoga saw Ranma get within hearing range, "look I didn't mean anything by that I swear Ranma, it was just a slip." Ryoga exclaimed then he felt her grab his hand again, "Huh, you're not mad?"

She looked up at him, "Nah, just got me a little freaked out is all. C'mon we need to get to the next class it's a fun one!" Ranma smiled then proceeded to drag Ryoga away while waving bye to Dai and Hiroshi. ' _Man, maybe that pill is making Ranma more into a girl than I thought. I don't think I'll ever understand women…'_ Ryoga thought to himself.

* * *

 **Home Economics.**

Ranma and Ryoga walked all the way back into the school surrounded by the murmur of rumors that were shot towards mostly Ranma. It wasn't like they could make out what people were saying, but as they walked they could see the way people were staring at them and it was obvious what they were thinking.

Ranma was strong willed though and brushed it off as she ignored the people as they walked by her. She knew the rumors were not true and that's what she kept telling herself over and over again. They soon approached the door that had " **Home. Ec**." plastered above it and Ryoga froze for a brief second before Ranma shot him an angry glare, turned the knob, and pulled him into the classroom as she took her spot next to Akane with Ryoga on her right. Several students were still filling the room as they were standing there waiting for class to start. Ryoga felt embarrassed for taking this class and being in here.

Ranma noticed how tense and disheveled Ryoga was, "Ryoga, calm down geeze it's just a class and it's really fun you'll see." She said as she smiled up at him.

"Yeah Ryoga especially with Ranma's help we have a system worked out, but with your help I guess... we can both do the mixing." Akane said as she was waiting patiently beside Ranma.

"Look I shouldn't be in here I'm a guy and guy's don't take these kind of-" Ryoga said but was cut short by the smack of a frying pan on his head.

"Oops, sorry sugar, looks like I dropped something." Ukyo beamed as she gave a smile and a wink at Ranchan. Ranma and Akane abruptly broke out laughing as Ryoga scowled rubbing his head.

Just as fast as Ranma started laughing she stopped and had a realization, "Wow, is that what I sounded like when I would say stuff like that?" She looked between Ukyo and Akane who were furiously nodding their heads. She looked down at the table with a solemn expression on her face as the news shot through her. ' _How have I never noticed before, I really was being a jerk all those times.'_ "I-I'm sorry… I never realized it before, I really was being a jerk…" she trailed off again as she recounted all the time she had said stuff like that before.

Akane was left flabbergasted staring at Ranma she never apologized ever for anything. ' _Maybe Ranma is becoming more in touch with her emotions or something.'_ She thought before saying,"Ranma, it's not so bad I mean you were pretty bad, but we forgive you right Ukyo?"

Ukyo placed a hand on Ranma shoulder pulling the redhead of her thoughts, "Of course, Ranchan it's not that big of a deal. I mean we're all friends and stuff so you're forgiven." She said shooting Ranma a happy grin, but their conversation was cut short as grownup Ms. Hinako entered the room.

Grownup Ms. Hinako started taking roll and as she got to the last name on the list Ryoga noticed how the supermodel women slowly shrunk into a little kid. ' _What the hell, is this some kind of Jusenkyo curse? Can't be there is no water involved.'_ He just kept staring at her not even noticing the small child scream out what they were going to be making today. As well as not noticing everyone in the room scrambling for ingredients and kitchenware to use. He felt a jab in his side as he looked down and saw Ranma handing him a bowl and a whisk.

"Are ya gonna to stand there and stare at it all day or are ya gonna to take it?" Ranma said sarcastically. Ryoga finally took the items and just held them in front of him as if they were going to bite him.

Ranma could sense how nervous he was and saw that he was going to need some direction so she said, "Look, I'm gonna measure all the ingredients and you and Akane mix it ok?" She then started looked down at the recipe book in front of her and started grabbing ingredients and measuring them all out one by one. Setting them aside she started shoveling ingredients to Akane who added it to her bowl and started furiously stirring the batter. She then measured out more and started shoveling them to Ryoga's side of the table. Which he just stared at then looked at her confused.

"Ugh, start mixing Ryoga!" She shouted at him stomping her foot on the ground.

Ryoga looked at her and the ingredients several times before grabbing some of the stuff in front of him and dumping it into his bowl. But, fate had other plans as he reached down to grab one of the ingredients he knocked over the bag of flour that slowly fell onto the side of a bowl of water that was needed for the mixture which doused him making him shrink into P-chan. Ranma noticed and panicked as she looked back at Akane who was so intently mixing that she didn't even notice. Ranma bundled the little black piglet in Ryoga's clothes and ran by the teacher exclaiming she needed to go to the bathroom as she exited the door.

Ms. Hinako who was sitting at her desk shrugged and mumbled, "That Saotome is a strange kid."

Ranma ran down the hall and entered the first bathroom she found. She searched the whole bathroom to make sure no one was there before she threw Ryoga in the handicap stall and grabbed the emergency fire bucket. She then ran to the sink and started filling it with warm water. When it was full enough to trigger a change she ran back into the stall looking down at the sad looking piglet.

Who ran over to the other side of the room escaping from his bundle of clothing to make sure it wouldn't get wet when the change happened. She doused him with the warm water and as he changed back into Ryoga, she averted her eyes and looked elsewhere as he started getting dressed. Both of them were too engrossed into what was going on that they didn't hear several girls enter the restroom.

Hitomi was a girl about the same height and build as Ranma, but a little taller, not as well-endowed, or quite as good of a figure. She had dazzling hazel green eyes and light brown hair made up in a ponytail that stretched to about the middle of her back. She and her three friends entered the restroom together chatting about the new school rumors, and other things when they heard a large splash sound that got their attention.

Looking at where it came from they saw a pile of clothes and two pairs of feet one obviously female and the other male but one was barefoot and was most likely naked if the clothing on the ground was any indication. Hitomi turned to one of her friends and was about to say something when they heard a male voice say, "Thanks, Ranma I really owe you one." All four girls blinked at each other as none of them believed the school rumors at all.

They couldn't fathom the thought of macho man Ranma Saotome going all girl. Hitomi finally whispered into her friend's ear, "It can't be Ra-" she was cut off from the female voice, "Yeah, well your just lucky Akane didn't see ya, then it could have been really bad. Ya dressed yet?" All four girls gulped and stared at each other in shock as they heard the male voice answer back. "Yeah I'm dressed let's head back."

Their attention was focused on the stall door that opened and out walked Ranma leading Ryoga out of the stall and both of them frozen in shock staring at the group of girls. The girls stared at Ranma and Ryoga noticing that they were holding hands as they exited and looked like they had just gotten caught. ' _No, they saw Ryoga as P-Chan now they're gonna tell Akane...'_ Ranma thought. _'They saw me… my life is over… forgive me Akane….'_ Ryoga thought.

For the four girls, they didn't believe anything until the evidence was right in front of them staring at them. How could the rumors not be true it was completely obvious now? Hitomi was the first to recover from her shock as she spoke up, "Uhh, sorry we were just leaving right girls." All of them nodded and were about to walk out when Ranma ran up and grabbed Hitomi's by the arm as she said, "Please, don't say anythin' we can't let anyone find out Akane would kill us both."

Hitomi and the four girls looked at Ranma with confused expressions on their faces, "Well, Ranma you're not doing a good job of hiding it, I think the whole school knows now." All the other girls nodded in unison.

Ranma got wide-eyed and took a few steps back, "But… but… how? We've been keeping it a secret for so long there's no way people could find out that fast."

Hitomi reached out and put a hand on Ranma's shoulder staring Ranma in the eye, "How long have you been keeping this a secret Ranma?"

"We've been keeping it a secret for about half year now it's my fault I made Ranma promise not to tell anyone." Ryoga spoke up bringing all the attention to him as he hung his head in shame.

All the girls turned to focus on him in disbelief Ranma had been with Ryoga for a half a year now and Ranma wanted to tell everyone, but Ryoga wouldn't let her. All four girls turned to each other and nodded an unspoken vow made between them all, "Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say we won't tell anyone what we've seen in here, but the rumors are already spreading and both of you need to come clean eventually." Hitomi put both of her hands on Ranma shoulders reassuringly, "And, you need to tell Akane, Ranma she needs to know ok?" Ranma nodded her head in shame. She was too focused on the P-Chan fiasco to pick up on the rumor comment.

"All right well, we'll leave you two alone and think about what we said." Hitomi turned and started walking towards the exit as her friends followed her out.

When the group of girls exited the restroom Ranma and Ryoga let out a breath that they didn't know they were even holding in. Relief washed over them as they got another chance to live another day. "Man were we lucky." Ranma said as she slumped against the bathroom wall.

"You said it I don't know why they would even help us. Seemed like a nice group of girls though. Do you know any of them?" Ryoga asked.

"Uhh, no I don't think so… hmm… maybe the one that kept talking I think… she might be one of Yuka or Sayuri's friends…" Ranma said as she stood back up and straightened out her dress. "Well, c'mon let's get back to class." She said as she walked over and retook Ryoga's hand as they both walked back to the classroom. Akane never even noticed that they were gone as she was still intently mixing the whole time. When class was over they all got A's on their daily 'assignment.' The day continued on as Ranma led Ryoga from class to class. Soon it was the last class of the day and that meant Gym.

* * *

 **Locker Room and Gym.**

Ranma was internally groaning as she was walking through the halls towards her destination of doom. She had dropped Ryoga off at the boy's locker room and asked Daisuke to watch over him until class was over. So, she didn't have to worry about him at the moment and was free to be alone in her own thoughts.

As she approached the door to her new locker room she stared up at it for several moments before she felt someone lay a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Hitomi smiling down at her, "So, are you using our locker room now Ranma?" Ranma turned beat red and nodded slowly, "I have to now, I'm kinda stuck you see." She said as she turned her gaze looking down at her own feet.

Hitomi frowned for a second but turned it into a bright smile as she said, "Oh, well we're going to be late if we don't get changed quickly c'mon I'm sure the other girls won't mind." She then stepped forward practically dragging Ranma into the locker room.

The locker room was bustling with noise and the chatter of life. All around you could hear the giggling, the laughter, the comradery, and the essence of friendship as the girls got prepared for the last class of the day. It all stopped and all eyes were turned to the newcomer who entered into their no boy's allowed domicile.

Ranma dropped her head and just stared at the ground not wanting to draw any more attention to herself. She never even looked up to notice Hitomi had led her to a locker and started to get undressed.

Hitomi looked down at the frozen girl who was just staring at the ground not even moving. As Hitomi put on her yellow gym shirt, not wearing any shorts yet only her undergarments she nudged Ranma with her elbow saying, "Hey, get dress silly look no one even cares you're in here anymore."

Ranma looked up to gaze at the slightly taller girl but quickly averted her eyes back to the ground as she noticed Hitomi's state of undress. Ranma was so entirely focused on trying not to draw attention to herself that she blocked out the noise that picked back up when she had gotten to her locker. "I don't know they all probably think I'm some kind of pervert." She said in a whispered tone of voice.

Hitomi grabbed Ranma's chin and looked her in the eye, "Ranma you're not a pervert we all know you're probably more comfortable over here than in the boy's locker room anyway." She said with a smile, "Isn't that right?" She screamed slightly as she released Ranma's chin. Ranma looked around at the half-naked women standing on the other side of her were none other than Yuka and Sayuri who both said, "Hai." In unison.

She quickly averted her eye's again, started getting undressed, and changed into her gym clothes, "Ugh, why do they make these so… so…" She stammered trying to find the right words as she pulled down on her gym shorts.

"Skimpy is the word you're looking for Ranchan?" Ukyo said as she walked by already dressed for gym. She may have given up Ranchan because she couldn't be interested in another woman, but she didn't like seeing how friendly this girl was being with her ex-fiancé. "So, who is this girl Ranchan?" She asked a little angrily.

Ranma was tugging at the edges of her female gym 'shorts' that covered up basically the same amount as her panties did as she looked up at Ukyo then glanced back at a smiling Hitomi, "Oh, this is Hitomi she I guess helped me get in here." She started scratching her head, "I don't know how she did it though."

"Oh, I didn't do much really… today was just a big eye-opener for a lot of us you know." As Hitomi playfully nudged Ranma. Ranma just looked up at her in confusion before turning back to Ukyo and asking, "Well, alright hey where's Akane, Ucchan?"

"I'm right here are you all ready to go, Oh hey Hitomi." Akane said with a wave before turning to the one who called her name, "Ranma I was looking all over for you! You're lucky no one beat you to a pulp as you entered. You should have waited for me like we planned!" Akane said in anger.

Hitomi flinched but gave a sincere smile as she looked at Akane, "Oh, I'm sorry that was my fault I kinda dragged her in here sorry about that Akane." It was sheepishly said as it turned into a slight smile before she nervously down casted her eyes.

"Oh, well I guess it's alright then… Ranma should have waited on me though who knows what could have happ-" Akane was cut short.

"Akane, we can stand here all day and jibber jabber sugar, but we are going to be late and I do not want to run extra today because of this!" Ukyo cut in before grabbing Akane and Ranma then heading out the door with Hitomi, Yuka, and Sayuri right on her heels.

The Coach Mrs. Utsimi began the practice just like any other school would with a full set of warm-ups to loosen up all the muscles after sitting down and learning all day. She followed this by making the girls run a few laps around the track field for some endurance training as well. One thing the coach noticed is that Ranma who would sometimes come to the girl's practices when the hot water would run out at school was not leading the pack or running circles around everyone like she normally would.

She wasn't the slowest of the girls in the least and she was still at the very top of the group. The only ones who were in front of her we're Ukyo, and Akane. This still made the Coach raise her eyebrow and a few questions came through her mind, but she quickly just discounted it as nothing. She was a teacher and wasn't getting paid enough as it was to be worried over someone like Ranma who's whole life was utter chaos. After the laps were over the Coach sent the group over to the soccer field to finish out the rest of their gym period for some fun and relaxation.

The group of girls quickly split up into two separate groups, one having Akane, Ukyo, Yuka, Sayuri, Hitomi, and Ranma, as well as some others. The other group consisted of most of the actual girls who played soccer for the Coach in question and were ready for action. While most of the other girls opted to just sit out and watch the game go on.

Ranma found herself thoroughly enjoying herself for the first time in a while as she was able to do more than just jog with Akane. She was able to keep up with most of the well-trained soccer players and even scored a few goals herself. She may have been weakened by the pill itself, but she was still in peak physical condition for her tiny petite body. She was able to move gracefully throughout her opponents when she had the ball and use her stamina to keep from getting tired. She wasn't fighting a battle for her life, she wasn't having to save Akane from doom, and she most certainly wasn't having to deal with one lecherous old freak.

She was smiling, having fun, and for the first time in her life she actually felt normal, she felt accepted, and she felt exactly what it was like to be part of a group. Sure, she had been on the guy's side of things, but over their, it was more of a contest to see who was better, who could throw farther, who could jump higher, who could lift more, but over here it felt more like just having fun. Sure there was still competition, but it was different. It was relaxing to her and she felt almost sad when Coach blew her whistle ending the game and it was over. She couldn't keep a smile off her face as she walked back to the locker room talking and just being a high schooler with her friends.

That was until she opened the door to enter the locker room and took one step inside. She immediately felt warm water cascade down her entire body. Ranma looked up rubbing the water out of her eyes to see it was the leader of the group of girls who found her and Nabiki in the locker room yesterday. "Hey, what did ya do that for?"

The girl smirked as she walked up to Ranma pointing a finger in her face exclaiming, "Haha looks like it is true the great Ranma Saotome the wild stud has been turned into a gelding." She held her hands up making a cutting motion with her fingers as she began to laugh in Ranma's face. She then stopped and placed a finger on her chin, "Well maybe you're more of a mare now I guess huh? Serves you right the way you treated Akane and all the other girls!" She spit the words out of her mouth like they were the undeniable truth and all the other girls in _her_ group started laughing at Ranma's twist of fate.

Staring up at all the girls pointing and laughing at her she couldn't help herself from reflecting on what had happened over the past few days she had lost to Happosai, lost to Akane, lost to Nabiki, got stuck in her girl form, lost her ability to fight as well, got maimed by Kodachi, and her father left her when she needed him most. It all just overwhelmed her as she tried to clench her eyes shut as tight as possible to keep back tears.

She would be damned if she was going to cry in front of them and give them the satisfaction, but she could feel it coming and didn't know what else to do. So, she turned and ran through all of her friends as fast as she could. She just kept running trying to hold back the tears as she ran through the front gate of the school and didn't know where she was heading, but she didn't care she just wanted to get away. It was too embarrassing for her friends and the people at school to see her in the state she was in.

So, she just kept running and running not knowing where she was going to end up. That was until she bumped into someone and felt strong arms wrap around her. She felt safe and secure, and this was a stranger as far she knew so she broke down and latched on to the person comforting her as she sobbed into the person's chest. She didn't know how long she had been there crying, but she felt a lot better.

She soon broke away from the embrace rubbing her swollen eyes not wanted to look the person in the face she responded, "Sorry Mister, kinda had a bad couple of days… I'll be going now." She sniffled as turned away from the person, but felt a strong hand on her shoulder fearing the worst she jerked back and got into a fighting stance to face her opponent. Who she saw made her relax and then blush with embarrassment, "Please tell me it wasn't you who I just did that on?"

"Ranma, are you alright? what happened did someone attack you and why were you crying?" Ryoga replied taking a step forward towards the girl in front of him.

Ranma looked up at him and crossed her arms under her breasts angrily, "I'm fine I wasn't crying, I don't cry…"

"Yeah well judging from the way the front of my shirt looks I'm surprised I didn't change. You had to be crying for a good five to ten minutes straight Ranma. C'mon there is no one around here, and I'm not going to think any less of you for crying I cry all the time it's perfectly normal." He said.

He saw the emotions slide over Ranma's face fear, rejection, sadness, depression, then anger, and he stepped in before she could say something else and dismiss it anymore as he exclaimed, "Stop, Ranma, you're not fooling anybody no one cares if you showed some emotion every once in a while." He walked over and put his hand on her shoulders and continued, "Now c'mon tell me what happened?"

She looked up at him and was going to dismiss the whole thing, but for some reason, once his hands were placed on her shoulder she felt herself calm down. She still didn't want to look at him in the eyes so she looked down at her own feet as she said, "It's just I was having a good time ya know, I never had the opportunity to just sit back and be normal. I'm always having to fight one of you guy's or protect someone... not that I don't mind protecting people it's just that it gets… I don't know it's just tiring."

She sniffled and rubbed her nose as she began to speak again, "I never got to have a childhood Ryoga, and for the first time today it was great in gym class." She looked up at him and smiled. "I was dreading it at first, but it was so much fun. I can't remember the last time I had that much fun." She breathed in and then let out a deep sigh, "I forgot about all my problems as I was walking back into the locker room with Akane, Ukyo, Yuka, Sayuri, and Hitomi I just felt normal for the first time then." A small tear ran down her cheek and she wiped it away as she said, "Dammit!"

She shook her head regaining her composure and continued, "And, then when I walked into the locker room one of the girls splashed me with hot water. Of course, I didn't change but then she started making jabs at me losing my manhood. I don't know why but everything that happened over the last few days just hit me at once and I ran I didn't want them to see me crying." She then began to think, _'Why am I telling him all of this I never open up to anybody.'_

Ryoga waited for a moment to see if she was going to say anymore, but when it was clear she wasn't he found his voice, "You know, me and you aren't so different Ranma, because of my directional curse I never had a real childhood either. My life just always seemed horrible you don't want to know what it was like when I was younger trying to find the bathroom in my house."

He chuckled and she giggled slightly then he continued, "Well, that was until you came along I thought I finally found a friend and you were the first one I found. Everyone always made fun of me because of my directional problems, especially in school." He sighed and looked down, "But, like I said that was until you came along. You would help me get to school and I was helping you catch up on assignments and no offense, but people thought we were stupid me because of my directional problem and you because you were so far behind."

He clenched his fists and closed his eyes as hard as he could. His knuckles started to even turn white then he relaxed and smiled down at her. Noticing him tense up she looked at him with worry in her eyes then he spoke up, "I know I always said it was the bread feud that we had, but really I wasn't mad about that. When you told me, you were leaving I didn't want to lose my only friend so I challenged you. I needed to make it to the lot on my own to prove to myself I didn't need you. It was behind my house so I figured I could make it there easy you know, but when I got there you were gone." A lone tear ran down his cheek, "It confirmed my worst fear that I did need you, and that was the moment I lost my childhood I blamed you for it, but it wasn't your fault I know that now."

She punched him in the abs lightly as she said, "Dammit Ryoga, stop you're going to make me cry again!" She grabbed his hand and looked up with teary eyes, "look I'm sorry ok, I didn't have a choice it was that stupid panda's fault he made me leave."

He squeezed her hand reassuringly, "I said I don't blame you anymore Ranma, I know it wasn't your fault. It was everyone's fault but yours. I'm the one who followed you, your father is the one who dragged you away, your father brought you to Jusenkyo, and if he wouldn't have been running from you then I wouldn't have gotten cursed."

She smiled up and him as she said, "Well ain't we just two peas in a pod our lives both suck huh?" Looking around she noticed they were on some sort of street corner somewhere that didn't look very familiar, "By the way, where are we?" She asked.

Laughing he said, "Did you really just ask me where we are? You know I have no clue honestly I thought It was going to take me weeks to get back to the Tendo's."

Giggling for a second, "Haha, right stupid question." She stopped immediately as a realization hit her and she asked, "Wait I thought I asked Dai to watch ya how did you get lost again?"

He started scratching the back of his head nervously laughing, "Well, uhh, haha… you see we were playing baseball and I went to go find a foul ball I wandered off and could never find it. Then I didn't know where I was so I kept walking trying to find something that looked familiar. That's when you came running up to me. I was actually glad until I saw the state you were in."

"Well, we should probably try and find our way back I think I recognize some things but not much." She grabbed his hand and started to try and lead him, but stumbled as her legs felt like jelly, "Ugh, what the hell, I hate being so weak!" After all the running in practice, playing soccer, and running for how long even she didn't know her legs were completely spent.

He pulled her by her hand before she fell and brought her in close as he laid his arm over the top of her, "Look I'm not letting you go no matter how much you struggle you need help walking." he said as he tightened his grip more as she was trying to break free.

She was thrashing as best she could and didn't want to be put into this kind of compromising position, "Look I don't need your help I can walk just fine!" She exclaimed looking at him angrily.

He stopped at stared at her which made her tense up and freeze as she looked up at him with anger in her eyes he said, "Would you just accept help for once in your damn life Ranma. We just talked about this and now your falling right back into your old ways, I thought you were changing…"

She relaxed and leaned into his embrace, "Fine you win I can't walk on my own ya happy, but now, even more, people are gonna look at us funny especially if we run into kids from school." They started walking again looking just like a couple. Although they were both still wearing their Furinkan gym uniforms and that did make them stand out a little bit more than any other couple.

"I don't care what they think I never did and you shouldn't either." He said. She thought about his words and she had said the same thing the just earlier today. Why shouldn't she follow her own advice? Walking this way felt nice actually to her she felt safe and secure. She hadn't felt that way since she was little just starting the training trip with her father inside a tent on a freezing winter day up in the mountains. That was the last time she could remember her father had actually been nice to her and held her as it was so cold they needed the extra body heat in their small tent on the side of the snowy mountaintop.

Ranma and Ryoga continued walking that way all the way home. They did have to stop a few times and turn around to correct course, but they both just laughed it off when it happened as she blamed Ryoga saying it was his fault. Although, as they kept walking she kept feeling more and more tired as they were trying to reach their destination.

When they were finally in front of the gates at the Tendo residence he squeezed her for a second noticing she didn't take a step forward, "Hey we're here." He said with no response from her. He then looked down and noticed her eyes were closed as she was leaning up against him with all her weight. She was sleeping he noticed and smiled down at her before swooping her up gently bridal style. _'I never noticed how light she was in this form.'_ He thought.

In her sleep, she snuggled up against him even closer as they made it to the front door. He opened it slowly because he didn't want to announce his presence as to not wake her up. Over a long period of time being around the Tendo household he had been able to find his way around the place better than any home he had ever had. Sure, he might get lost in a closet for a few minutes, but he could always find his way around and get to where he needed to go. So, he carried her up to her bedroom and laid her down on her new bed covering her up with blankets and made his way back downstairs.

As he made his way downstairs he was immediately stopped by Nodoka and he could see the panic in her eyes as she asked him frantically, "Have you seen Ranma, the girls came home and said she ran off from school? I… I-I… don't know what I would do without my bab-"

She was stopped as Ryoga placed his hand on her shoulder, "She's fine I ran into her and she helped me find my way back." She looked up at him and relief washed over her and he continued, "She fell asleep as we made our way to the front gate. I uhh… put her in bed I think she needs to rest."

She gripped his hands in hers as she said graciously, "Th-thank you Ryoga-kun, you are a really nice young man. I don't know what we would have done without you."

"It's really no trouble Saotome-san." He said with a bow after freeing his hands, "I just did the same thing Ranma would do, but if you wouldn't mind I would like to go out to the dojo. I need to think for a while." He moved around her at the bottom of the stairs and started making his way-outside to the dojo.

"Please call me Auntie, Ryoga-kun." She called out to him, "you have done so much for our family that is the least I could do."

He turned around and smiled back at her. "Ok Auntie, I'll be out in the dojo if you need me." He said as he continued on his way.

She watched him go out the sliding back doors and stood there for a while thinking many, many things. She probably stood there for a good ten minutes before she remembered everyone was still outside looking for Ranma and she needed to make some phone calls to bring everyone back.

* * *

 **Mom, Daughter and Dojo talk**

About thirty minutes later Nodoka was in a much better mood than before as she was sitting at the table drinking her tea knowing that her child was home and safe. And, that was enough to bring her peace and calm to her distraught mind from earlier. She was brought out of her musings as she heard the sounds of footsteps creak down the stairs. She turned her head and saw her beautiful daughter leaning to one side of the railing with one arm and rubbing her eyes with her other hand still wearing her Furinkan high female gym clothes. That brought a smile to her face.

Still rubbing the sleep from her eyes Ranma noticed her mother staring at her, "Uhh, Hi mom." She waved and walked over to her mother and sat down next to her. ' _Guess I fell asleep and Ryoga carried me in... Maybe I miss judged the guy he ain't half bad.'_ She thought.

The smile on Nodoka's face faded as she watched her daughter reach across and pour herself a cup of tea. She needed to let her child know that running away from the school alone should not happen again, "Ranma, dear, as glad as I am that you are home and safe. You need to know that I do not want you to run away like that again. What if that Kodachi girl had found you? You could have been seriously injured or worse."

Ranma rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Ahh, mom I'm fine and it wasn't that big of a deal ya know Ryoga was there."

Sternly she turned to stare her daughter in the eyes, "That is beside the point dear, you ran away from school alone, and I do not want you to do that again." She relaxed having said what she needed to hoping that it was enough. Her child seemed to listen to her better than anyone else, so she continued as she brought herself into a motherly smile, "Dear, why did you run away from school it couldn't have been just what that one girl said?"

Ranma picked up her tea bringing it to her mouth to take a sip, and looked away from her mother out into the koi pond just as a Koi leaped up and dove back under the water she placed her cup back down, "I-I really don't want to talk about right now." She turned back to face her mother, "And, how did ya find out anyhow?"

Nodoka placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "Akane, Ukyo, and your friends came by searching for you and told me what happened, and if you want to wait and tell me later I can understand." She removed her hand and turned her attention back to nursing her tea.

"Thanks, we can talk later ok mom." she said as she sighed in relief of not having to tell her mom that she had just bawled her eyes out. She then turned to face her mother noticing one person was missing. "But, where is Ryoga, I-I hope he didn't get lost…" She said slightly worried.

This brought a smile to Nodoka's lips she took a sip of her tea trying to calm down from her excitement as she said, "He is out in the dojo practicing dear are you going to go check on your boyfriend?"

Ranma froze jaw dropped and eyes wide as dinner plates as she turned to look at her mother, "Wa… wa… what he is not my boyfriend mom what the hell gave you that idea… and why do ya keep saying things about me dating boy's it doesn't make any sense!?"

Nodoka being the matriarch of her family and having lived as a woman her whole life had a lot more social experiences than her daughter did. So, she knew when she needed time to think about the situation and find an answer to the question. She brought her tea to her lips and took a long drawn out sip then slowly placed it back onto the table. Then she turned to face her daughter with a warm and glowing motherly smile, "That is simple dear, I overheard your friends talking and now that you are free from that foolish contract, and with you being a girl right now. I figured it would be perfectly fine for you to either when you turn back to a man have a wife… or you could stay my daughter, marry a nice young man, and give me lots of grandbabies!" she was almost giddy when said the last bit.

Ranma blushed a deep crimson and turned away to not face her mother. ' _I think she finally lost it... maybe me being gone for that long knocked a screw loose or somethin, better not say something too hasty or she could bring that katana back out.'_ Ranma stood up not facing her mother, "Umm, OK whatever mom, you… uhh said Ryoga was in the dojo?" she started walking towards the open doors viewing outside, "I'm gonna go talk with him. good talk mom bye!" She practically ran away from her mother towards the entrance to the dojo.

Nodoka sat there smiling to herself. Her daughter may be a tough nut to crack, but she was going to give it her all. The plan wasn't to push her daughter or force her to marry like Genma did. The plan was to slowly leave suggestions, hints, and openings for her daughter to find someone more suited to give her grandchildren. She wasn't an evil woman in the least if her daughter still didn't have any feelings for men then she would accept her the way she was. They do have that new artificial insemination thing nowadays maybe her daughter could use that?

Stepping outside and walking over to the dojo there was a slight chill in the air. The grass had a fine dew building up as the sun was all but setting leaving a serene and orange glow throughout the darkening sky. Ranma was still wearing her gym uniform that did nothing to keep her warm in the slightest. As she padded her feet on the ground stepping ever closer to the dojo she was rubbing her hands together with her elbows tucked into her sides as the cold was seeping into her body.

She saw that the dojo doors were shut as she got closer and she could hear the sounds of someone practicing inside. The shouts, the screams, and the names of techniques beings thrown around. Every time she heard these sounds it brought a smile to her face remembering all the old memories she had growing up with her father when she was groomed to become the greatest martial artist in the world.

But, as these thoughts filtered through her mind's eye she couldn't help but feel saddened by them. Why had her father left her? He had never left her before why did he do it now? Had she finally disgraced him and brought dishonor to her family? Had he given up because she was nothing but average and was only going to return once she could become the best again? You would think he would stay around and want to train her some more to help her get back into it but he did leave. She couldn't help but ask herself why?

Shaking the saddening thoughts from her mind as she did not want to have a repeat of what happened at school. It was too fresh of a wound it could open back up, and she already felt the emotional roller-coaster coming. She had to do something to take it off her mind, so she shook these thoughts from her head and moved closer to the dojo doors slowly sliding them open she took a step inside and closed them behind her as she entered.

As soon as she entered she got her first glimpse of Ryoga doing a Kata it let her know that he was in the zone. She knew that face, those emotions, and that body language all too well herself. So, she tried to stay as quiet as possible as she made her way to the corner of the dojo. She sat down Indian style at first, but her body felt too cold from the short trip outside so she shifted around and brought her knees up to her chest while rubbing her legs up and down with her hands trying to bring some more heat into her body.

The dojo was warmer than outside but not as warm as the house itself. It still left her feeling slightly uncomfortable having nothing to cover her legs with. She tried to ignore it as best she could because she wanted to see if maybe Ryoga had learned something new. Not that she would even try and challenge him right now, but when she got her mojo back she knew she would mop the floor with him.

It brought a smile to her face knowing that when she was the best she could even beat someone like Ryoga. A man who could crush boulders with his finger tip, a man who always gave her a run for her money, a man who would go to the far ends of the earth to find some hidden technique to best her, and sometimes he would win. Not for long though she would always come back and find a way to best him.

As she was watching him she couldn't help but bring herself to admire the way his body moved and worked. The muscles compressing and moving while sweat was dripping from him making his body sheen as he would jump in the air and kick an invisible opponent. Or roll to the side as if moving with a heavy blow only to spring back and snarl at the ghostly combatant. Then she watched him stab his finger in the ground and scream, "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

That single motion worried her for a moment as she thought he was about to make the ground explode. But, this was just a Kata meant for practice, meant for fighting an invisible enemy when you had no one to spar with, and meant for only practicing the techniques not actually using them. As she was lost in her train of thought she felt a piece of fabric come and hit her in the face. It was white, soft, and clean, but made her jump as it blinded her.

"I can tell your cold use it to cover up." She heard Ryoga say, but she was still blinded by the large piece of white fabric. ' _Who does he think he is, telling me I'm cold. I ain't cold. I'll shove this thing down his throat!'_ she clenched the piece of fabric with her fists as she brought it down jerking it back from over her head shooting him an angry glare. Then a realization hit her, ' _What is wrong with me Ryoga is just being nice, and I am cold…'_ her grip loosened and her face relaxed as she recognized it was just a towel.

She used the almost blanket sized towel for her to cover up with. Her face slowly creased back into a smile as she felt her own body heat start to spread out and heat her up. "Man, no wonder all ya guys hated me so much, ya know what I was first thinkin' when ya threw me the towel?" She asked him as he was using his own towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead in the middle of the room.

"What?" He wanted to make some other comment but thought against It. Because maybe his rival and longtime enemy… no not enemy _friend_ was finally getting a clue.

She shifted back into the Indian style seating as her body was feeling much warmer and it was more comfortable. She had the towel wrapped over herself with only her knees barely poking out of the edges with the top of it bunched up in her hands as it was brought up around her neck to warm up her arms as well. "I was pissed off to tell you the truth. I wanted to march over to you and give you a piece of my mind for trying to help me."

She started to laugh a little as she continued, "I even thought about shoving the damn towel down your throat. That's what I was thinking… man if I would have met someone like me I woulda' taught them some manners." She said as she play punched the air making the towel wave in the air for a moment before she quickly brought her arm back in for more warmth. "Why do you guy's even stick around I was nothing but a jerk to everyone especially you and Akane."

He stopped his shadow boxing as he heard her last comment, and walked over to sit down next to her with one knee propped up and the other leg sprawled out. He used his left hand while holding a towel to wipe some sweat off of his face before turning to look her in the eye. "Ah, you weren't that bad, I mean I can't count how many times I said I was going to literally kill you. Not even considering the ones you didn't hear when I was lost."

He began to chuckle slightly, "You should have seen some of the people's faces as I would burst through a wall screaming RANMA SAOTOME PREPARE TO DIE!" They both began to laugh, "I always got lost before the police arrived though. Sometimes my second curse is a blessing I guess."

She couldn't help but stare at him, ' _I never noticed before he's..._ _really good looking, nice, caring, and funny. Makes me feel even worse for picking on him, but why doesn't he have a girlfriend? He would probably make some girl really happy someday… Wait he said curse I always wanted to talk about it'_

"Ya mentioned your curse can I ask ya a question about it, not the directional one the Jusenkyo one?"He looked at her for a second like she was crazy so she continued, "Look all the other people I know who have a Jusenkyo curse are either in love with me or hate me, and I ain't asking Pop's he would just make fun of me. But, ya have to promise never to tell anyone about what we say I don't want to be known as some weirdo… any more than I already am."

He thought about that as well out of the whole time he had, had his curse to turn into a piglet he had never actually sat down and talk about it with anyone and compared notes as it would be. "Yeah, I guess it would be nice to know what it's like for someone else… oh and definitely nothing will be repeated."

She smiled up at him, "Good, my first question is well, when you're a piglet do ya have like some kind of instinct or somethin' kinda like ya know how to be a piglet, or maybe you just start acting like one if you wanted to easily?"

He thought about all the times he had turned into a piglet and the only time he could think of that he didn't instinctively know how to move or act as a pig was when he first climbed out of that damn cursed spring, "Actually yeah I guess so, never really thought about it before. I guess when I am a pig I know how to snort, smell, walk on all fours, and know where to hide. I'm also faster in that form but that doesn't help very much with getting lost as easily as I do and when the world suddenly gets five times bigger." He turned and shot her a mischievous smile with a small fang poking out, "Do you suddenly know how to be a girl and stuff?"

She glared at him for several seconds before moving the towel around and readjusting it as she looked out towards the other side of the dojo, "Kind of but not really girls don't act much different from guys. I've seen some girls act and look just like a guy. I've also seen some guys look and act just like a girl Kanatsu for example. What happens to me is my tastes and likes change sorta. I would never admit it to anyone, but I like chick flicks, romance novels, and I actually had a lot of fun shopping yesterday. One of the major differences is my emotions sometimes it's really, really hard to not cry, or lose my temper when I'm in this form. That's why I usually drown it all out and focus on the insults when I'm fighting cause when you guy's hit me it hurts a lot more too ya know."

"Hmm really, I thought girls had a higher pain tolerance?" He asked thoughtfully and felt a little happy knowing that she told him all of these things. He realized she was changing but not for the worse. She was changing for the better and he actually liked this new Ranma. It was still the same Ranma, but she was nicer and he liked that about her. The only other person who had ever been so nice to him was Akane, and well Ranma when they were younger...

"Yeah, I do in this form, but I'm more durable in my guy form. It's hard to explain kinda like umm, like you see." She held up her arm to show it to him, "You see how small and soft it is, barely any muscle huh?" He gazed down and looked at the small slender feminine arm noticing for the first time just how much smaller it is compared to his own, "Well, I think it hurts more in this form when I fight is cause I don't have as much to soften the blow ya know?" She brought her arm back under the towel and readjusted herself.

"Hmm, I never really noticed before, to be honest. You know when I'm a piglet my tastes change as well. I uhh well, one time when I got lost I stumbled onto to a pig farm and it had been days since I had eaten anything. Of course, it started raining as soon as I came walking by. I changed and I could smell the feeding troughs all filled with slop. I was so hungry man I was starving and I couldn't stop myself I made a break for it and dove into the feeding pins all filled with other hogs and piglets just like me… I ran and jumped into the first trough I found and the slop that the farmer was using tasted amazing it was one of the best meals I ever had."

He started laughing uncontrollably and she couldn't help but smile and join in. When it died down he continued, "But, you know what the funny thing is I made my way back through there a there a couple months later and wandered over to the pig pins in my male form. I tried the slop again and it was god awful. I even threw up right there on the spot. The farmer saw me and started chasing me off of his property… I umm." He started nervously scratching the back of his neck, "Heh well no point in hiding anything else now is there. Well, when I find myself back there every now and again I know I can find a good meal if I'm a pig. So, I change my self, sneak in, and get a quick bite before heading back to my travels."

Ranma and Ryoga laughed for several minutes after Ryoga's confession. After the laughter died down a bit Ranma spoke up first wiping a small tear from her right eye just from laughing at Ryoga's story. "Man, so I guess that kinda answers my second question. I was gonna ask if you sometimes have urges from your cursed form in your real form?" She saw Ryoga about to protest but continued speaking, "You just said you tried to eat pig slop in your human form don't deny it now!"

Ryoga shot her a look, but sooner or later slammed his back against the wall of the dojo in defeat staring out to the other side of the dojo, "Fine, alright I do, it's just weird admitting this stuff… Wait!" he lurched forward tuning to face Ranma directly, "What urges do you have?"

Her eyes went wide she was going to have to admit some personal stuff she never told anyone before. She turned around not to stare at him in the eye and mumbled something so quiet he couldn't understand it at all.

Ryoga took his arms and laid them on Ranma's shoulders and spun her around to face him. He could tell her face was completely red, and she was staring at the ground. "C'mon Ranma I just admitted some of my most embarrassing things here. The least you could do is do the same. You are the one who brought up the topic anyway." He said it in a calm and reassuring manner.

Gritting her teeth, she shot him an angry look for a second before it melted and she hung her head in defeat, "Fine, I give… sometimes when I'm out walking around even in my guy form I'll see something in a store and wonder what it will look on me well not me but this body." She paused for several seconds trying to find something to distract him so she wouldn't have to admit the thoughts her 'girl-brain' was having lately about him.

Finally she found an embarrassing event that she didn't mind telling, "You know how I like to scam food and get it for free in this body?" she looked up and seem him nodding, "Well, one time I forgot I was in my guy form and I ran up to a taiyaki stand. Well, I didn't realize and I did my cutest girl in the world act I even made my male voice as high and adorable as I could… the stand owner looked at me like I was a freak probably thought a bunch of other things too. Everyone around was staring at me I didn't even know why I was so confused wondering why it wasn't working… until well all the little kids started calling me names that I really don't want to repeat. I immediately looked down and noticed I didn't have these." She dropped the towel and cupped her breast before letting them fall then she picked the towel back up to keep warm and continued, "I ran away as fast as I could and found the nearest cold water I could find. Whenever I get into that area of Tokyo now I always turn into this form and if not I get really weird looks from people. That guy at the stand even has a picture of my guy form posted that basically says not to sell anything to me."

She was so embarrassed she couldn't feel any worse then she heard Ryoga start to burst out laughing at her. She went from being embarrassed to being as angry as could be so she threw a punch as hard as she could to Ryoga's shoulder, but it didn't do anything and he continued to keep laughing. Eventually, she couldn't stand it anymore as his laughter became contagious and she broke out laughing at herself.

Eventually, the laughter died down and she had one more thing to ask and it was the most important thing. "Ryoga, I have one more question for you, but I don't want you to answer it right now I want you to think about it and answer me later kay?"

He looked at her puzzled for a minute, "…Ok what?"

"If someone was to lay a cure for your curse in front of you… for your Jusenkyo curse that is would ya use it?" she asked.

"Of cour-"

She held up her finger to his lips to cut him off as she said, "I said think about it this is really important to me just think about it and answer me later. Think about all the good times you have had in your cursed form, all of the things you wouldn't be able to do anymore, and all of the moments you would miss out on as you got older… just think about it."

He stared at her in disbelief after all the trouble they have been through since they got their curses. How could she be asking this question? It had to be something to do with the pill messing with her mind. It had to be there is no other explanation for it. "Alright I'll think about it." he said begrudgingly.

They sat in silence for several moments Ryoga was pondering her question and she was wondering what exactly his answer would be and what exactly was she hoping the answer would be herself. That was until the dojo doors slammed open startling both of them, but Ranma couldn't help herself she let out a very high pitch girlish scream before throwing the blanket over her head and covering herself.

Ryoga jumped at the sounds of the door and her scream shook him out of being startled. So, he got to his feet as fast as he could then got into a battle stance in front of Ranma within a second. Who entered made him drop his defense and relax. It was a man in white robes with long black hair both and his arms crossed over the other inside of his sleeves.

The man turned and faced Ryoga then immediately his face scrunched up in fuming fit, "How dare you turn back into a man so soon and try to take back my darling Shampoo, Saotome prepare to die!" Mousse screamed out lashing a chain from under his cuff directed towards Ryoga, but it immediately dropped to the ground halfway by a Chui that was thrown from outside of the dojo. Just as Mousse was turning to look out and see who threw it another one came and hit him square in the face throwing him to the other side of the dojo where he slumped against the wall.

Shampoo stepped into the dojo a second later picking up her Chui's and turning to see if what Mousse said was correct but she noticed that it was just Ryoga who the blind duck boy was talking about and her heart sank immediately. Not that she would be able to marry Ranma anymore because the kisses were dissolved she knew that, but she still had feelings for him and if he was back maybe she could try to have a more normal relationship with her ex-Airen. "Stupid Mu-Tsu, that no Ranma, that Pig boy." She said as she walked over and abruptly slammed her Chui on top of Mousse's head once again.

Mousse stood up and fixed his glasses finally noticing that he did indeed make another mistake. He watched as Ryoga helped Ranma get to her feet and noticed she had the towel clutched around her whole body and she was glaring daggers at him as he slowly approached her he said, "Umm, sorry Saotome really."

She marched directly over to him with her face all contorted and full of anger, and she did the only attack she could think of to use with how her body was. A kick would most likely do nothing and make her fall down on the floor. A punch would just hurt her hand again. So, she opted to put all of her force into a swing pulling her arm back as far as it would go and swung her hand right up against his cheek smacking his glasses off in the process. "You idiot you could have killed me!" she exclaimed. Then turned on her heal to go walk back over to Ryoga she did not know what Shampoo and Mousse were doing here but it couldn't have been just to come and say hello.

He started blinking at her for several seconds then brought a hand up to his already swelling cheek. He was about to say something, but shampoo walked up and smacking him over the head again with her Chui, "Stupid Mu-Tsu get what you deserve great-grandmother tell us not harm Aire… Ranma." She then turned her attention back to Ranma and Ryoga who had already taken on a defensive stance once again, "No, we no come for fight Spatula girl and Violent one come to restaurant say Ranma missing. We get orders from great-grandmother to go looking something bad could happen. Then we get call your mom say you here so we here to make sure you ok Ranma." She said with a smile.

"That's true, we did not come here to fight. I just fell back into an old habit I guess. I am truly sorry for what I did." Mousse said with a bow then stood up placing his arm over Shampoo who leaned into him.

Ryoga was still a little apprehensive and did not seem wanting to get out of his battle stance, but decided to give in and dropped his arms to his side after a few moments. Ranma looked at mouse and Shampoo questioningly for a few seconds and was about to comment on how close they were acting when more people came running into the dojo.

Ukyo came flying in battle spatula at the ready as she barged into the room, "Aww, c'mon how did you two get here faster than us?" Akane and Soun came running in after, with Soun turning to see if Ranma was okay then leaning over to place his hands on his knees sweating and puffing for air.

Akane turned as soon as soon as she entered the dojo then saw Ranma and came running up to her, "Ranma are you okay? Why did you run away from everybody at school?" Everyone seemed to face the redhead waiting for an answer to the question except for Soun who was still trying to catch his breath.

Ranma was watching everyone's faces staring at her and felt more nervous as time pressed on as she said, "I really don't want to talk about it…"

"No, you're going to tell me I was really worried Kodachi could have attacked you again!" Akane exclaimed angrily stepping closer to Ranma.

"Oh, so you were _worried_ we're ya!?" Ranma retorted sarcastically back to Akane's growing anger. ' _Great way to stop arguing with everybody Ranma…'_

Akane's face grew redder and redder, "Why do I even bother! Obviously, you were upset about what that girl did but couldn't have been just that... tell me!"

"Akane!" Soun shouting as he stood up placing a hand on his youngest daughters shoulder and continued, "Ranma is obviously unharmed and perfectly healthy. Isn't that enough for right now?" he turned to face Ranma, "And I am sure she will tell you whenever she is good and ready." Ranma nodded her head in agreement.

"Fine, whatever that girl won't be bothering you anymore anyway." She said and got a sly mischievous smile on her face as she continued, "Nabiki and Shampoo took care of it."

Ranma got nervous two women who she would never want to cross could do anything. One with access to many magical artifacts, and the other one has who knows how many people who owe her a debt, "Wh-what did they do?" she asked.

Nabiki appeared out of seemingly nowhere which startled Ranma when she started speaking, "Well after I heard what happened I asked Shampoo if she had any more of those instant spring of drown boy packets." Ranma turned to look at Shampoo who had a very happy and pleased expression on her face as Nabiki continued, "Let's just say that tomorrow there won't be any hot water at school and she might start feeling a little tingly when she goes to wash her hair."

Ranma couldn't help but laugh a little as she commented back, "That's a little harsh, but she deserves it."

"Anyway, now we know Ranma, okay we going great-grandmother be too too happy." She started walking towards the dojo doors pulling Mousse by his sleeves as he said, "Yeah sorry again Saotome stop by the restaurant I'll give you a free meal on me."

' _Aren't all my meals already free? Whatever…'_ Ranma forced a smile as she waved, "Ok bye guys thanks for umm, worrying about me I guess." Shampoo and Mousse both waved and smiled as they exited and continued on their way out. As they exited Kasumi came walking into the dojo.

"Kasumi please tell me you weren't out looking for me too?" Ranma didn't know why but the thought of sweet Kasumi walking all over Nerima looking for her made her feel horrible.

"No, well, yes I kinda was I just looked while I left to go out for some ingredients to make dinner, but that's not why I came out here your two friends from school came by and their waiting for you in the living room."

Everyone then seemed to dissipate and go back towards the Tendo household Soun and Ryoga came in and sat at the Shoji board, Akane went up to her room to do homework, Nabiki went to her room to make some phone calls for tomorrow's little payback plan, and Kasumi walked back into the kitchen to start preparing a late dinner. While Ranma walked in and sat across from Hiroshi and Daisuke who were already sipping on some tea that Ranma could only guess her mother or Kasumi had offered.

"Wow looking good Ranma." Daisuke snickered. Hiroshi couldn't bring himself to comment it was strange seeing Ranma dressed in the female gym clothes at school, but it was even stranger seeing her dressed in them at her own home.

Ranma looked down at herself and blushed, but waved it off as she asked, "Whatever why are you guys here you never just drop by?"

"Don't tell me you forgot you said that you would go to the movies with us remember?" Hiroshi exclaimed.

It took a few second for Ranma to remember what she had said yesterday. ' _dang, they came all the way here too. It would be rude if I backed out now.'_ She leaned back and scratched the back of her neck, "Haha yeah I kinda did, but I'll go get rea-"

"Where do you think you're going, dear?" Nodoka spoke up as she walked out of the kitchen then sat at the head of the table.

"Umm, I was going to go to the movies with my friends why?" Ranma said as started to get up to go get ready.

"Sit down dear." She said sternly with which Ranma complied. Nodoka turned to face Dai and Hiroshi, "Tell me are you, two Martial Artists?"

"Umm, I'm not Saotome-san." Daisuke replied.

"Well, I used to practice a little when I was younger Saotome-san, but I don't think I would be a match for any of you guys." Hiroshi added.

"Hmm, I see." Nodoka pondered this for several moments before turning to her daughter and said, "I'm sorry dear, but I can't let you go I want you to stay home. From what happened yesterday and today I don't think it is a good idea."

Ranma blinked at her mother and pleaded, "But, mom they came all the way over here just to get me, can't I like just take Ryoga with me or something." She then turned to face her friends as she asked, "I mean if ya guys don't mind?" they both shook their hands signaling that they didn't care.

Ryoga who was sitting at the Shogi board looked up and was pondering what was being said. He didn't like to just be dragged along but going to the movies didn't seem like such a bad idea. From what Ranma had said earlier he had missed out on a lot of stuff from growing up and this would just be like a 'guy's' night out. "I would be glad to go." He said with a smile turning his head away from the board for a second.

Usually, this would be an opportunity for Soun to cheat and rearrange the board, but he just didn't feel like it was the right thing to do anymore. With the events that have transpired over the last few days, it made him think about how he has been acting and he was trying to correct some of his bad habits, "I think that's a wonderful idea Nodoka, let the kids go have some fun. It's nice for them to go out and relax after the hectic past few days we have had." Soun said.

Nodoka sighed she did not feel comfortable with the idea of her daughter being out in the city when another attack could happen, but she did know that Ryoga would protect her. "Ok you can go, but all of you better not let my daughter get hurt!" She exclaimed and all three boys nodded they're heads saying yes. While Ranma rolled her eyes and ground her teeth together hating that her mother was acting this way.

* * *

 **The Movies and More.**

Standing in line at the movie theatre, Dai, Hiroshi, Ranma, and Ryoga were packed in slowly moving forward in line as people were getting to the front to get their tickets. Ryoga had changed into his usual attire, while Ranma had changed into some form-fitting jeans and a red blouse that her mother had found before she got attacked from Kodachi yesterday. She was also wearing the pink jacket that Akane had bought her reluctantly of course. She just couldn't find any of her other jackets in her closet for some reason and was left with only two options either freeze when the sun went all the way down or wear pink. And, she was tired of being so damn cold all the time.

"Wow, your mom is really protective of ya man." Daisuke said to Ranma.

"Yeah, it's getting worse, but I can't really blame her she's been through a lot of changes over the past few days. I think she's just trying to figure out how to act or something." Ranma replied.

"I don't know my mom hasn't acted like that since I was like ten years old… but I guess I can kinda see why. My mom is really protective of my little sister, maybe that's it?" Hiroshi added.

"What are ya trying to say Hiroshi!?" Ranma glared at him.

"Uhh, nothing so what movie do you guys want to see." Hiroshi said pointing to the wall full of movie posters playing right now.

"Well, we know horror movies are out with Ranma being with us." Daisuke added.

Ryoga was waiting for Ranma to retort back or say something, but when she didn't he had to know why so he asked, "Why would that be? You're not scared are you Ranma?"

Ranma glared at him before she said, "I ain't scared of the movie, it's cause they always have black c-c-c-cats in them."

"Oh right, that makes sense, how about this movie?" Ryoga pointed to an American movie called "Mission Impossible"

"Yeah, that looks awesome!" Daisuke agreed.

"I don't know how… about this one?" Ranma replied pointing to a movie called "Haru"

"Ranma, are you feeling alright?" Daisuke leaned down and put a hand on Ranma's forehead, but she swatted it away then he said, "Wow calm down that's just a chick- flick man."

"Nuh-uh, how do you know have ya seen it?" Ranma replied.

Daisuke shook his head as he said, "I just hear a lot of the girls at school talk about it is all. From what I hear it's about internet dating or something."

Ranma turned bright red noticing that she let one of her guilty pleasures slip, so she quickly without looking pointed to another movie and said, "Ok how about this one." She then looked at the one she picked and her eyes went wide as she thought, ' _No, no not that one!'_

"I'm ok with it if you're alright with it?" Hiroshi asked.

She looked up at him and crossed her arms under her breast as she exclaimed, "Of course I'm alright with it why wouldn't I be?"

"Ranma, I thought you just said you don't watch horror movies that's an American movie called "Scream" I'm pretty sure that's a horror flick." Ryoga said bluntly.

She couldn't back out now she had to go through with it she was the one who suggested it in the first place after all so she said, "I-I'm fine with it… as long as Dai's ok with it?" hoping maybe he might not be.

"I've always wanted to take Ranma-chan into a scary movie I'm down." Daisuke said smiling.

The four of them made it to the front of the line paid for their tickets and headed into the theatre. With just one stop on the way at the concession stand. They all got large sodas and were going to split two large popcorn's, but Ranma refused and got her own small popcorn just for herself. After a whole day of being accused of dating a boy she was not about to share popcorn with one. They left the concession stand and entered the theatre to find some seats. They eventually found some good seats about mid row and seeing as how this was a Tuesday and a school night not many people were in line to watch _this_ movie.

Ranma usually trusted Dai a little more than Hiroshi, but tonight Dai had been acting extra perverted and he lost Ryoga at school. So, Ranma sat between Ryoga and Hiroshi with Dai on Hiroshi's left. The whole movie was going good for a while until a scene where some high school girls were walking around at a party with their chest's clearly visible underneath their white tight tank tops.

She could overhear Daisuke whispering things into Hiroshi's ear and she saw Ryoga staring for a second before looking away and covering his nose. ' _What is wrong with them can't they watch a movie without getting distracted by things like that… wait shouldn't I feel something looking at those girls?... oh, it's probably cause I have a girl body so I'm used to it… that's gotta be it…'_ She thought as she noticed their whispering stopped and Ryoga was able to start watching the movie again as the girls walked off screen.

She was thinking It wasn't really that good of a movie or that scary as she dipped her hand into her popcorn and took another mouth fool. That was when one of those demons came onto the screen and she screamed and tossed her popcorn in the air throwing it over all of them. When she stopped screaming she threw her hands over her mouth and started visibly shaking while staring down at the ground. _'The screeching and the meowing... I don't want to be here... I don't want to be here.'_

That was when she felt someone lay hands on her shoulders turning her towards him and she quickly hid her face and wrapped her arms around him as she felt his arms wrap around her. She didn't even care she just didn't want to look back at the screen again until the movie was over. Without realizing it she found herself drifting off to sleep in the comfortable embrace.

She was awoken by someone nudging her at first them someone slightly shaking her telling her to wake up the movie was over. She fluttered her eyes open as the lights in the theatre began to rise and she looked over to see that the credits were playing before looking up and seeing who she was laying on. That's when she bolted up and stood up straight blushing profusely.

"S-sorry Yoga, I must have freaked out pretty bad huh?" Ranma asked sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head looking away from him.

"Nahh it's no big deal that Neko-ken training must have been a horrible experience." Ryoga said. ' _Besides what guy wouldn't want to hold you in a movie... dammit stop thinking things like that about her.'_ He thought to himself as he rose from his own seat followed by Dai and Hiroshi.

The Four of them made their way to the bottom of the theatre and out the front doors without saying another word. Daisuke tried to get the others to stop at some arcades and manga shops on the way back to the Tendo's but it was to no avail. None of them really felt like doing anything else today. For Ryoga, it was his first day back going to school in years and it drained him having to deal with all of the emotional drama in one day that he had never really had to deal with before.

Ranma body was physically exhausted from gym class and running, and she was mentally drained as well. Her brain was all but fried from today's events as well as fate making her see a movie she never wanted to see in the first place. Hiroshi could tell from Ranma's face that she was tired and did not want to push her. He knew that today had to be mentally draining for her with all the rumors and such.

Ryoga had explained his curse to them after Ranma left to go sit with the girls for lunch and they all understood what Ranma was doing. Even more, proof was confirmed when Daisuke lost Ryoga right in the middle of a baseball game. That told them that Ranma was just being Ranma and helping Ryoga get from one place to another as well as needing Ryoga to protect her if someone was to attack her during this time of weakness.

They stopped in front of the Tendo's household and said their goodbye's. Ranma watched Dai and Hiroshi leave for a moment before following Ryoga into the house. Ranma and Ryoga placed their shoes on the racks as quietly as they could. Trying not to make any noises as it was really late in the night. Ryoga slowly climbed up the stairs and entered the guest room not making a sound as he did. Ranma was following him and was about to enter the guest room as well when she stepped on an old floorboard and it creaked ever so slightly. She stopped and looked around trying to make sure that no one had heard anything when she heard a door opening.

She turned to see who it was and slightly cringed seeing whose door it was, "Sorry Akane, didn't mean to wake ya." She said as she was reaching for the knob to her door she felt a hand land on her shoulder.

"Ranma could we talk?" Ranma heard Akane ask and she was about to protest that it was late and she really just wanted to go to bed until she turned and looked at Akane's face. Her face looked like a cross of seriousness and sadness with a hint of nervousness. This all but told Ranma that if she didn't go along with this conversation Akane was going to either hit her with her mallet or cry and not talk to her for a week. She didn't want either of these things to happen so she nodded and followed Akane into her room.

Akane patted the spot beside her as she sat on her own bed signaling for Ranma to accompany her. Ranma nervously closed the door behind her and walked over to the side of the bed and sat down. She immediately felt hands placed on the sides of her cheeks and was brought into a lip-lock with Akane. Ranma's eyes went wide and she never closed them as her arms went out and she started swinging them up and down in protest muffling things that couldn't be heard from her own mouth being occupied by the other girls.

It lasted a few seconds before Akane broke free and a small tear ran down her cheek as she looked back at Ranma who scrambled away from her with her back against the wall and she grabbed a pillow that she held in front of her as shield Ranma then asked, "What the hell was that Akane I thought you said ya wanted to 'talk!?'"

Akane turned her gaze away from Ranma looking down at the floor and placed her hands in her own lap as she said, "I'm sorry I just I had to know something…" she looked back up to Ranma for a second before adverting her eyes' back to the floor before continuing, "You didn't feel anything, did you?"

Ranma lowered her pillow shield she could tell this meant a lot to Akane for some reason. So, she nervously crawled back over to the other girl and sat back down. "What do you mean feel anything?" She asked.

Akane turned her head staring at the redhead that sat beside her for a second before she asked again, "The kiss you didn't feel anything at all like romantically or anything, did you?"

They both sat in silence thinking for a moment before Ranma spoke up, "No, I'm sorry Akane, I didn't feel anything not really not at all. Did you?" she turned her head looking back at Akane staring into those brown eyes.

Akane flushed for a second and averted her eyes back to the ground as she said, "No, not really I was hoping for something, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be. We never did really get along it wouldn't have worked out between us I don't think."

Ranma felt a weird combination of pain and relief in those words for some reason and she didn't know why as she began to say, "Maybe… I think you may be right… You know I spoke with my mom and all of the engagements are off until I can change back." She saw Akane nod her head and continued, "So, you already knew?"

"Yeah, when Nabiki showed you your room my dad and your mom told me." Akane replied.

Ranma could see where this conversation was headed and she had, had enough of these moments today she was tired of it all. So, she rose from her seat and walked to the other side of Akane with a grin on her face as she held out her hand and said, "Hey my name is Ranma, you want to be friends?"

Akane looked at the hand and followed it up to the redheaded girl who had a look that spoke of shyness and confidence all at the same time. She grabbed the hand and brought the other girl into a hug as she said, "Baka, of course, I'll be your friend." They slightly laughed for a moment before breaking apart and not saying anything to one another for a second or two.

"Well, Akane I'm really tired I'll c'ya tomorrow kay." Ranma said as she started walking towards the door.

"Wait, don't tell anyone I kissed you." Akane exclaimed before adding, "Please." A moment later.

Ranma turned around and smiled, "Don't worry even if I did I don't think anyone would believe me. Goodnight Akane." She said as she walked through the door she also heard "Goodnight Ranma..." And a plop that she only figured was Akane falling on her bed. She also heard tears and sobbing, but knew if she did enter that room to make Akane feel better it wouldn't end well for her. Her heart went out to Akane she felt like they would have ended up together, but it seemed that the best thing that they would become is just friends.

Ranma walked into her room quietly looking around as she noticed Ryoga laying on his futon. She walked around him over to her dresser before taking one last check to make sure Ryoga wasn't looking. She then took off her clothes and her bra as she sighed in relief. Looking into her dresser she found a set of red pajamas that she had bought the day before with her mother.

She put them on as quickly as she could and was about to climb into her soft comfortable bed snuggling up next to Miss. P and drift off to sleep. But, stopped as she looked over at Ryoga sleeping on his futon. She walked over and started watching him sleep for a moment as she thought, ' _He really is cute when he sleeps... Dammit, stupi... whatever I don't care anymore Ryoga is damn good looking and everyone already thinks we are together anyways.'_

She then noticed his hair was slightly over his eyes and reached down to move it out of the way, but just as she was about to do it she felt him grab her wrist and look up to asking, "What are you doing Ranma?"

She gulped and was glad that the lights were off hoping that it was enough to hide her deep blush as she jerked her hand away and nervously said, "N-n-nothing hehe, uhh g-goodnight." and ran away and jumped into her bed.

Ryoga blinked at the retreating form of Ranma for a moment before saying, "Uhh, Goodnight Ranma." he then thought, ' _What was_ _as she doing with her hand?'_ Before shrugging it off as nothing and going back to sleep himself.

Akane fell back onto her bed burying her face in her pillow after she watched Ranma leave and then she immediately fell into a fit of tears. She couldn't help herself she felt like she and Ranma would always be together, but when she kissed her she felt nothing, she felt wrong, and also slightly disgusted. In that moment, she knew herself that she couldn't love Ranma back and it seemed that Ranma wouldn't love her back even if she could make it work.

Their relationship was over now she would just have to make do with being good friends, no best friends she told herself. Akane fell asleep that night not from laying there softly and drifting off. She fell asleep from only her own tears thinking about the things that could have been. Their relationship could have been something beautiful, something magical, something that people would be jealous of, but it was not meant to be. She laid there until she was all cried out from exhaustion and sleep finally overtook her.

* * *

 _ **Akane's dream...**_

Akane blinked open her eyes as she looked around at her surroundings she could see the waves crashing on the shore in front of her across the soft tan colored sandy beach. She then saw two kids one boy with bluish-black hair in pig-tail and one girl with red hair that was in a pony-tail playing in the sand as they were building a huge sand castle. She then saw that the sand castle had a little moat that went around it.

She watched the boy get up and grab a little green plastic bucket as he ran to the beach and filled it with water. He ran back and handed it to the little-redheaded girl, and watched her dump it into the moat but she noted that it wasn't quite full yet.

When the bucket would go empty the little girl would hand it back to the pig-tailed boy and he would go fill it up again and bring it back. They did this several times before it was completely filled to the brim, and the two kids smiled at one another as stood up hand in hand to step back and take a look at their handy work.

Akane smiled at the two kids then she saw a man with black hair in a pig-tail run up to the two of them wearing blue swimming trunks. She overheard the kids call the man something but couldn't make it out while asking him to look at what they made.

He smiled at the two of them and seemed to inspect their work for a minute then congratulated the both of them. She then saw all three of them turn to look at her and waved for her to come over. She looked down at herself and saw she was wearing a one-piece green bathing suit. She shrugged as she decided it wouldn't hurt to go meet them.

As she got closer the two kids seemed to run up to her screaming, "Mommy, Mommy look what we made!" as they each grabbed one of her hands and started dragging her over to look at their sand castle that they had worked so hard on.

She blinked a few times before she realized these were her kids and knelt down to look at the huge sand castle that they had been working so hard on. She then turned to look at the two of them and smiled as she said, "My you two did a wonderful job." Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see the man smiling down at her.

He cupped her chin in his hand as he brought his face closer to hers and kissed her on the lips as he wrapped his hands around her waist and bent her over slightly. She gasped and shot her eyes open when she felt him deepen the kiss, but slowly started to relax and enjoyed it even more.

He then stood her up and broke the kiss while smiling at her. They locked eyes and she heard him whisper, "No Honey, _you_ did a wonderful job." She blushed profusely and turned away as she heard her kids scream, "Eww, Mommy and Daddy kissed..."

* * *

 **Back To The Present...**

Inside Akane's closet laid a shopping bag from one of the stores in the mall. Inside the shopping bag was a red box with a blue ribbon tied around it in the shape of an off-centered X that connected at the middle with a little bow. Inside this little box laid a five-by-eight red stained wooden picture frame. The picture frame held a picture of male Ranma with his arm over the top of Akane and Akane had her hands around his waist. They were both smiling and happy as they stood on the beach Akane was in one of her one-piece green bathing suits, While Ranma was only wearing blue swimming trunks and had no shirt on. At the top of the picture frame laid the words "Ranma and Akane Together Forever."

* * *

 **A/N: First of all sorry I needed to break the relationship up between Akane and Ranma somehow. Now I don't own "Scream" the movie from 1996 and can't remember if there was a cat in the movie what so ever, but let's just say that there was for this Fanfiction. Also, Chapter four will take some time I wrote about five-thousand words of it then scrapped it as I decided I wanted to take this story in a different direction, and It is near the end of this semester in college. So, I have finals and exams coming up that means it might be a month before chapter four is posted.**


	4. The Engagement Made Before I Was Born

Ranma's Punishment, or is it?

Chapter 4: The Engagement Made Before I Was Born

 **A/N: First off, I would like to say thanks to everyone who has followed, favorited, and commented on this story your input really makes writing it a lot of fun. Second thing, this chapter would not be getting out as soon as it is if it wasn't for Fuyukazehime's help. This chapter would have most likely came out in a couple more weeks if it wasn't for her messaging me about it and helping with some parts that I was stuck on.**

 **Special Thanks: Alberyck(don't know how I missed your review on the last chapter sorry for that), TomEn, Luger 7, Littlegamer1313, wxyzsupermod, and unknown guests who left reviews.**

 **Disclaimer:** **I do not own Ranma** ½ **in any way shape or form and I am not trying to use this to make any money. Ranma** ½ **is owned by Rumiko Takahashi and not by me.**

* * *

Days had passed that turned into a week, and eventually three whole weeks had gone by since Ranma had awoken from the bed in Tofu's clinic. The day was Saturday and Ranma was glad that it was only a half day of school, as well as the last day before they get out for an extended weekend. They had Monday off because of some holiday that she really didn't care for, but it did get her out of school so that was a good thing at least.

She was in the last class of the day which was Mr. Miroto's history class. The teacher was droning on and on about past wars and such. While she was mindlessly doodling in her notebook thinking about all of the events that had transpired in the last three weeks since she had gotten up from Tofu's clinic.

When she had awoken she almost instantly went into ultimate girl mode and during this time she and her mother had ended all the engagements, so she was now free to be with whomever she chose. She thought she would pick Akane after she could change back, but after that one night when Akane kissed her their relationship had changed. She now knew that Akane was never going to be her lover, but a very beautiful friendship had blossomed from it and she was happy about that.

Ryoga had stepped up and became a true friend to her. He had protected her and been there for her when she needed him to be. It also seemed that he had become a good friend to only her family but the Tendo's as well.

Nabiki and Shampoo's punishment to the girl who led the locker room incident did not go unnoticed. When all of the girls in the locker room found out that they had to shower in cold water they all groaned and tried to shower as quickly as possible. Said girl took her shampoo and walked into the shower. She lightly got her hair wet just enough to add her shampoo to it.

Then she lathered her whole head up before stepping into the chilly water. While she was in the ice cold shower she had her eye's closed as the suds started running over her face and down her body. She heard gasp's and shrieks while she felt a tingling sensation spread throughout her entire body as things shifted and moved. Then she quickly shot opened her eyes and was met with murderous glares from all the other girls in the open shower.

It was said that she exclaimed "What!" then grabbed her throat upon hearing her new masculine voice and looked down at herself noticing that her two favorite assets were gone and she now had a member as well as some other dangly bits between her legs that had not been there before.

Ranma didn't know the full details of what happened afterwards but the next day the girl had large bumps on her head and ran up to her saying how sorry she was and that she would never do anything to harm her again. But, it's one thing to put the instant packets into a shampoo bottle and another thing to get them out. The same event happened a few more times before Ranma discretely replaced the poor girl's shampoo with one that she had bought herself. No one ever dared to question if Ranma should be allowed into the girl's locker room ever again.

She then began to think back to the night that she and Ryoga were in the dojo together. He still hadn't answered her question of what he would do if he had a cure available to him, and she still didn't know what she wanted his answer to be. Did she want him to refuse the cure so that she would feel better about wanting to keep her cursed form or did she want him to say that he would accept the cure, so that she would know that the feelings she was having about keeping her curse were her own and not caused by the curse itself? She really was at a crossroads with that one.

Ranma was brought out of her musing of the past when the bell rang and the teacher wished them all to have a good weekend and to have the homework do back to him by next Tuesday when they would return. When Ranma looked down at what she had been doodling her eyes went wide and she blushed slightly. It was her name 'Ranma' followed by the word 'Hibiki.' ' _What the hell is wrong with me I can't like him that damn much.'_ She thought, as she mentally slapped herself.

Ranma jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Ryoga standing there. She then quickly slammed her notebook closed and shoved it into her bag. Ryoga blinked at her as he asked, "What was that about and what were you drawing?"

She immediately stood up and started stammering slightly, "N-nuthin' P-p-chan umm… why do ya care anyway it ain't like it was any good anyhow?"

"Hey, don't call me that," Ryoga growled, "I thought you were going to stop calling me names?!"

"Yeah, well when ya stop being so nosy I'll stop calling ya names Pig-boy!" Ranma retorted as she stuck out her tongue.

"RANMA!" Ryoga snarled as he clenched his fist. He really was trying not to punch as he continued, "Stop calling me that!"

"Stop calling ya what Pig-breath!" She said with a smile. She loved to tease him it was always fun to get him all riled up.

Ryoga closed his eyes as he gritted his teeth with his battle aura shining brightly around him. When he opened his eyes Ranma saw anger dancing in them as he said, "I'm warning you Ranma…"

Ranma ran up to him and tilted her head to the side as she spoke softly, "I'm sorry 'Yoga I didn't know it would make you so angry can you forgive me?" she grabbed his hand and looked him in the eye.

Upon seeing this Ryoga blushed slightly and his battle aura instantly fell as he looked down at her and started stammering, "Uhh, well I umm… yeah, I mean-"

He got cut off as Ranma threw his hand back and yelled, "Damn your too easy Bacon-butt!" as she started giggling.

"RANMA!" he snarled as he was clenching both of his fists and grinding his teeth together then continued, "look I don't want to hurt you so stop dammit!"

Ranma put a both of her hands under her chin and stared at him with misty blue eyes as she said in a hurt voice, "Wha…. you would hurt widdle old me… why?" she finished with a sniffle and wiped her a tear from her eye.

Ryoga turned his nose up as he said, "I'm not falling for it this time Ranma, and you know damn well why so stop playing around and let's go."

Ranma crossed her arms beneath her breasts and pouted that her teasing didn't work but internally she was happy that her teasing did get Ryoga to forget about her 'drawing' before she said, "Fine _P-chan_ your no fun when ya don't go along with it anyway," Then forcefully grabbed his hand. Ryoga smiled as she was leading him because in his mind he had won the argument.

The two of them walked around the desks in the classroom and continued on their way walking through the doorway, down the stairs, and all the way down to the bottom of the school gates where Akane was waiting for them. She ended up getting called away halfway through class to go help the theater club with some play earlier, and told them both that she would meet back up with them when school let out.

Akane noticed the uneasy look on Ranma's face as she approached her. She was worried about Ranma because she had been getting slightly more and more flustered over the past few weeks and she wouldn't tell anyone why not even her own mother. So, when Ranma approached she figured she would ask again, "Ranma are you alright? Do you want to talk about something?"

Ranma looked up at Akane then over to Ryoga before fixing her eyes back on her ex-fiancée, "No I'm fine for the hundredth time! Geez, can't ya get that through your thick un-cute skull!"

Akane's rage started to boil over as Ranma hadn't called her any names outside of horsing around since their little promise to each other several weeks ago. "Well, excuse me for being a little worried about you! Honestly, it seems like you're hiding something from all of us y-you pervert!" she yelled.

Ryoga watched with a sweat drop as the two girls went back and forth swinging insults and comments back and forth to each other. He could swear it was like being transported back in time a month ago. Almost, like nothing had changed except Ranma's hair was down and she was wearing a dress, while Akane wasn't using her mallet to do the talking for her. The two girls argued for a good five minutes while Ryoga just stood there not wanting to get involved.

Ranma was huffing for air while she was taking a break from screaming at Akane then something clicked in her head. Why were they arguing? Akane was just asking her a question then she insulted Akane? It was really her fault and she had been doing good not insulting anybody. Why did she all of a sudden break a good streak?

Both girls weren't even looking at one another and Ranma's face grew somber as she began to speak in the midst of the silence. "Hey Akane, I'm sorry I don't know what came over me I kinda snapped at ya for no reason. You're not un-cute, but it's kinda personal… and I don't want to talk about it."

Akane turned around in an instant ready to snap back at the redhead, but when she saw Ranma's face in utter anguish and sorrow her anger faded. Ranma really meant what she said, but it still hurt that Ranma had called her un-cute after they had become such good friends over the last few weeks. She also insulted Ranma back so she was guilty of it as well. "Fine, I'm sorry too I was just trying to help and I'll respect your privacy."

Ranma's mood immediately became better as she began to speak again, "Thanks, let's go home I know pig-boy is probably hungry." Ranma said as she smirked at Ryoga and took his hand. Ryoga gritted his teeth but let it slide as they all started to take a few steps towards the Tendo residence.

Then Akane stopped after a few steps on their way there as she remembered she was supposed to ask Ranma something, "Oh, hey Ranma I almost forgot Sayuri invited us to a sleepover at her house tomorrow I already said I was going to go… are you gonna come?"

Going to a sleepover didn't seem like such a bad idea to her. She had been having loads of fun when she was playing with the other girls in gym, and it would be nice to just have a relaxing day away from home. "That actually… sounds like fun sure I'll come," She said, with a smile and all three of them continued on their way home.

Ryoga didn't say a word as they all made their way to the Tendo's. He did listen intently though as Akane filled Ranma in on what to expect at the party. Akane told her about some of the times she had been over to Yuka or Sayuri's growing up and that they would play certain games, watch movies, talk about school, as well as other such things.

Ryoga listened to all of this but one thought kept coming up into his head, _'Ranma actually agreed to go to a girly party and she seems excited about it. Things really have changed the old Ranma would have never even thought twice about going to something like that.'_

The three of them eventually made it all the way to the Tendo residence without any interruptions at all. Then they walked inside and did their usual greetings announcing their presence to the whole household, but no one seemed to answer them back. They walked around for a minute only to find a note laying on the table that said.

 _We left to go to the market the pantry was getting pretty empty._

 _There should be enough for you all to fix something for lunch._

 _We also dragged Soun with us he needs to get out of the house more often._

 _Love Mom, and Kasumi_

"Well, I guess I'll get started on lunch then," Ranma said as she turned to face Akane and Ryoga, "What do you two want to eat?"

Akane huffed as she said, "Oh, and I can't help you?"

Ranma and Ryoga swallowed nervously but before they could say anything Nabiki came down the stairs and said, "Hey Akane I taped last night's episode of 'The Desirable Doctor.'"

"Oh, the one where Dr. Naruhiko is supposed to take nurse Suko out on a date?" Akane asked with excitement in her eyes.

"Yup, that's the one," Nabiki said as she walked over to the T.V. and put in the tape in the VCR, "I'm watching it now if you want to watch it with me?"

Akane turned to Ranma as she said, "Sorry, Ranma you're going to have to make lunch on your own." Then walked over and sat down in front of the T.V. Next to her sister. Right when Akane sat down, Nabiki turned around and shot Ranma a look that said, 'you're welcome,' before turning around to start watching her show.

Ranma then turned to Ryoga, "Well, what do you want to eat?"

Ryoga shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever you make is fine with me I know it'll taste good, and I'll be in the backyard training if you need me," he said as he started walking out the back doors.

Ranma couldn't help but smile when he said that, "Oh, ok have fun," She said, and couldn't help herself from watching him leave for a moment before shaking her head and entering the kitchen. She scowled when she saw that the only apron that was clean was a pink one, but put it on anyway as she started to looking around for something to make for lunch.

She opened and closed several cabinets with a scowl on her face. She was wanting to make something good and there was hardly anything at all that she could make unless she wanted to heat up some cups of ramen. She then felt a small twinge in her lower body for a second and thought it was strange right before she laid her eyes on some yakisoba noodles laying in a pantry and she completely forgot about it.

She now knew what she was going to make as she walked over to the fridge and grabbed some aonori seaweed, broccoli, bunch cabbage, carrots, and some spring onions. After she cleaned the vegetables she went to work chopping them all up. Then she went to work on the noodles themselves.

Once the noodles were softened to her liking she added some oil to a wok and dumped in the vegetable mixture that she had cut up. Once the vegetables were cooked to a certain point she added her noodles and some yakisoba sauce then a few minutes later the dish was complete. She took it off the burner and went back into the living room as she called out, "lunch is ready."

Nabiki turned around and asked, "You're not going to bring it in here?"

Ranma narrowed her eye's at Nabiki as she said, "What do I look like Kasumi?"

"Well, with that pretty pink apron, and that blue dress your wearing I would say so," Nabiki smirked.

Ranma's left eye twitched as she said, "This was the only apron that was clean, and this is my school uniform I just haven't changed yet!"

Ryoga came walking in through the back door just at this time and asked, "Ranma did you say lunch was ready I'm starving?"

"Uhh, yeah I did… one sec I'll bring it all in here for... everybody," She said, as she turned on her heal and went back into the kitchen. Nabiki raised an eyebrow at this but shrugged her shoulders and dismissed it as Ranma came back carrying the food as well as some bowls and chopsticks. Right as soon as Ranma got everything laid out and was about to sit down herself to eat she heard someone knocking at the door.

She groaned as she stood up, took off her apron, and approached the door. When she swung it open she saw a man that stood about six-foot-five and was nothing but solid muscle. He was wearing a black gi and had his gray hair cut short with the front spiked up a little bit. He had a perfect jawline, a scar that ran down the side of his left eye that looked like he just narrowly escaped losing it, and his face was just barely starting to wrinkle from old age. Behind the older man was a girl in a white dress with a veil over her face. Ranma blinked at the two of them for a moment before saying, "Umm, can I help you?"

The man began speaking in an old, deep, and booming voice, "Yes, ma'am my name is Kajiyama Kenta and this is my daughter Kaori. I am looking for a young man named Saotome Ranma. I was told that he currently lives at this residence is that correct?"

"That is… umm what do ya want with him?" she asked.

He was expecting a more formal greeting from the young woman in front of him, so he stood there and stared at her for a second before sternly saying, "That is no concern of yours. I wish to speak with him and him alone this is a matter between his father and me."

Ranma sighed, "look mister Kajiyama, I don't know what my Pop's promised ya but I'm Saotome Ranma, and I don't know where the stupid Panda has ran off too, so, sorry for the trouble." She said as she started to close the door but had to stop when he caught it with his hand forcing it to stay open.

"Look, _girl,_ I know you're not Ranma, Genma Saotome has a son named Ranma not a daughter. Now, stop playing games with me and let me see him!" Kenta snarled.

"Who the hell do ya think you are huh!?" Ranma said as she glared at the man.

Kenta was just about to respond to the redhead in front of him when a boy in a yellow shirt came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder, "Is everything alright Ranma?" Ryoga said as he stared at Kenta. He didn't like the way he heard the older man talking to Ranma very much while he was in the house so he was already put off by him.

Ranma glared at Kenta as she said, "Yeah, he was just leav-"

She only got that far before Kenta ran over to Ryoga and brought him into a great big bear hug saying, "Ahh, Ranma my dear boy you've turned out quite nicely," He put Ryoga down then turned to look back to his daughter, "Now Ranma let me introduce you to your fiancée this is Kaori Kajiyama."

The girl with the veil over her head slowly lifted it off of her head to reveal her face. Which in all honestly wasn't the prettiest girl Ryoga had ever seen, but she definitely wasn't the ugliest either. She had the average Japanese black hair color that stretched down the middle of her back as well as the average Japanese complexion.

To Ryoga, she just looked like one of Ranma and Akane's friends from school nothing really stood out on her except for one feature which was her was her dazzling ruby red eyes. "Isn't she beautiful my boy?" Kenta asked Ryoga who just nodded his head in agreement. Ryoga didn't disagree with him, but she was nothing compared to Ranma... or Akane in his mind.

Ranma stomped up to him as she snarled, "look here mister this is Ryoga," she pointed to the fang-toothed boy, "And I'm Ranma," she pointed to herself, "Now, I ain't marrying your daughter so please leave!" she finished as she pointed out towards the front gate.

Kenta waved her off, "You're still doing that bit… Ahh, I see you must be in love with Ranma-kun here and you want him for yourself that's it."

"W-what… I ain't… uhh in love with h-him," She said as she blushed crimson and looked away for a second before what he said sunk in and she turned her attention back to the Kenta, "Hey wait… I mean he ain't Ranma stop confusing me!" she said, as she stomped her foot.

Ryoga looked at her funny but figured she was just reacting that way from Kenta assuming that she was in love with him. Not that she actually had feelings for him herself.

"Oh, Kenta-kun is that you? It's been so long," All of the people present near the front door turned to look out at the front gate as in walked Nodoka and Kasumi who were carrying a few shopping bags in each hand. Then Soun followed them a few second later, and you could tell that he was the pack mule as he was overloaded with sacks and bags.

Kenta turned and grinned, "Ahh, No-chan," He said, warmly as he approached her, "I have to say Ranma has turned out to be a very strapping young lad."

Nodoka looked at the Kenta for a second before looking over to see a very confused Ryoga then noticed that Ranma was glaring at Kenta. She easily put two and two together as she turned to face him with a forced smile and said, "Kenta-kun, I think we might have a misunderstanding here."

Kenta seemed to look at her in confusion for a second before asking, "What seems to be the problem No-chan?"

Nodoka sighed before turning her head towards the redhead and saying, "Ranma dear, why don't you come over here."

Ranma walked over towards her mother and stood beside her glaring daggers at the older man as her mother put an arm over the top of her and said towards Kenta, "This is my darling Ranma-chan, Kenta-kun," She then nodded in the direction of the lost-boy and continued, "That is Ryoga-kun my _daughters_ friend."

Kenta seemed to stare at her for a second before his brow started furrowing then he said, "Genma said he had a son. This is not going to work now how are we going to join the _N_ _othing_ and _A_ _nything_ Goes schools."

Nodoka sighed deeply before asking, "Perhaps we can all go inside and discuss this matter further?" Kenta seemed to nod and everyone made their way inside the house.

A few minutes later Kenta and Kaori took their seats on one side of the table as Ranma, Nodoka, and Ryoga all sat together on the other. Soun sat at the head of the table while Kasumi just walked in from the kitchen with some tea. Nabiki had paused the show that Akane and her were watching as well and had turned her attention to the new guests. While Akane didn't want to be bothered by another suitor for Ranma, so she went up to her room to do some homework hoping that she could finish her show after dinner sometime maybe.

Ranma was sitting at the table finally able to enjoy her lunch that she had made but not really getting to enjoy it at all. She didn't like that her father had set her up with another fiancée and this one seemed to know Nodoka on top of that. So, that meant her idiot of a father had to set this engagement up before she was born. Ranma was sitting there cursing under her breath with food in her mouth while she was glaring at Kenta right before Nodoka leaned down and whispered to her, "You know I would never _force_ you to become more ladylike but Kenta is an old friend of the family so _please_ act a little more civilized."

Ranma then turned to her look at her mother for a second before scoffing slightly as she started eating a little more ladylike and stopped glaring at Kenta. She did turn to look at Kaori for a second as they locked eyes, but she quickly looked away as she couldn't help but fidget slightly and felt really uncomfortable by the way Kaori looked at her.

Kenta picked up his tea and took a long drawn out sip before sitting it down and said, "Well, I hate to do this Nodoka we go back since early childhood, but your husband did make a promise to my family after all." He then pulled out a contract and slid it towards Nodoka.

Nodoka eyed the paper for a second and wanted to gasp as she wondered what would possess Genma to sign such a thing. Then an idea popped into her head as she looked back up at Kenta, "Well, I don't see what the issue is you can clearly see that Ranma here is a girl, and she can't possibly marry your darling Kaori-chan."

Kenta nodded his head, "Yes, yes that seems to be the case, it took me a long time to track Ranma down... and when I finally did what I found out was disturbing at first, but now it seems to make more sense," Kenta sighed, "You see I found out that Ranma was dating a boy named Ryoga from her school. This made me believe that I had to act fast and correct this corrupt thinking that Ranma was having about other men, so, as soon as I found out where Ranma was staying I brought my darling Kaori with me to try and break him of it."

He then leaned back and interlaced his fingers as he pushed his arms forwards to crack his knuckles before continuing, "You see the contract clearly states that Ranma is required to marry my daughter, and if she cannot uphold her end of the bargain than your family will owe mine one-million-yen."

After, hearing that Nodoka looked over the document several times and what he said seemed to be correct so she sighed and rubbed her temple before asking him, "Kenta-kun I am sorry but we do not have that kind of money is there another way we can fulfill the contract?"

Kenta nodded his head as he said, "Why yes in my short time of being here I know a martial artist when I see one and someone of Ryoga's caliber at his age is remarkable, to say the least. If Ranma here was to give up her claims to him and give him to my Kaori than I will rip up the contract."

Ranma slammed her hand on the table as she yelled, "You can't do that to me!" she then relaxed as she contemplated her outburst and softened as she said, "I mean him it's unfair… Ryoga has a say so in this and we aren't even dating that's just a rumor at school anyway."

Ryoga blinked at her for a second after she said that but shrugged it off as he had more important things to worry about like being forced to marry this girl in front of him. "Look Kajiyama-san, I'm _not_ dating Ranma and I am most _definitely_ _not_ marrying your daughter," Ryoga said dryly.

Kenta huffed as he said, "Honestly, I don't care it is either you take Ranma's place to marry my daughter or the Saotome's will owe me one-million-yen."

Ranma was having enough of this. How dare this guy come in and threaten her family and Ryoga on top of that. He had no right to do that and she knew she had to act quick or Ryoga might end up with this Kaori girl or her family would owe this guy one-million-yen. So, she stood up and stomped her foot as she exclaimed, "Fine, then I challenge Kaori and If I win then I get to keep Ryoga and my family doesn't owe you anything."

Kenta looked up at her and smiled before he spoke, "That sounds like a wonderful idea. Kaori here is a natural at the art almost as gifted as I was at her age. If only she would have been born a boy… what a shame that was." Kenta shook his head then looked up at Ranma and grinned even deeper as he continued, "We will be back in two weeks to have the challenge. I need to get Kaori and the family prepared for the wedding that we _will_ be having afterward."

Kenta then stood up saying, "Come, Kaori we have many things to prepare for," then turned to the others at the table and bowed before saying, "Thank you, for the tea and I hope to see you all in two weeks," He then turned to Soun and smiled evilly before saying, "it is nice to see you again too old friend," Right before he walked over to the doorway to put his shoes on.

Kaori stood there for a second and bowed towards Ranma as she said silently in very beautiful soprano-like voice, "I am very sorry for this my father seemed set on marrying me off to you, so I hope you don't thin-" she got cut off and jumped when Kenta called for her to hurry up. She bowed once more before practically running to catch up with her father.

Once they were both gone Ryoga immediately snarled at Ranma, "What the hell Ranma!? How do you plan on beating her huh!?" He then turned away from Ranma and crossed his arms as he finished with "Cause I don't plan on marrying her!"

Ranma then huffed as she plopped back down in her seat saying, "I don't know… maybe Cologne might know some way for me to be able to get some of my fighting ability back or somethin'."

All eyes at the table turned to the head of the table when Soun cleared his throat before he began to speak, "I really wish you wouldn't have done that Ranma."

"Why is that?" Ranma asked as she raised an eyebrow, "if I wouldn't have my family would have owed him one-million-yen and how does he know you and mom anyway?"

Nodoka put a hand on her child's shoulder to get her attention before she said, "Ranma dear, me and Kenta used to umm… well, we used to be together before I met your father. I have to say I do not remember him being such an… evil man."

Soun nodded his head, "He was always a different person around you No-chan. When I first met him Saotome and I were traveling looking for powerful martial arts masters to teach us the art," Soun sighed before continuing, "You see Kenta used to be the master's best pupil… well, that was until Saotome and I arrived."

"To make a long story short. When me and your father came into town, Saotome and Nodoka almost fell in love at first sight, and after No-chan and your father made it official that it made Kenta quite angry with him. He knew that we were looking for a great martial arts master to train under so he introduced us to the master. When we saw how powerful the master was we immediately threw ourselves at his feet begging him to train us. It didn't take us long to surpass Kenta then the master kicked him to the curb."

Ranma huffed, "Well, if you and Pops could beat him so easily I'll find some way to beat his daughter."

Soun shook his head, "You don't seem to understand Kenta swore revenge on your father."

Nodoka gasped, "I never heard of this from Genma before why did he keep it a secret?"

Soun kept a straight face as he began speaking,"I'll tell you, but where Kenta did not pick up the teachings of the master or was as skilled as either of us. He could decipher a technique in an instant and immediately come up with a counter for it. I don't know how but after he swore vengeance he found almost all of the Anything Goes scrolls and created his own school called Nothing Goes."

Soun shivered before continuing, "He has pretty much come up with a counter for every technique that the master knows. He may not be the best martial artist in skill, but against our style, he would be the most formidable opponent you have ever faced. When he came back many years later he defeated Saotome and me single-handedly. I remember seeing him hold a knife to Genma's neck asking him if Nodoka was going to have a boy or a girl. Genma, of course, said boy and Kenta made him sign something then left laughing like a maniac."

Nodoka's brow was furrowing as she said, "I cannot believe I used to be in love with that monster!"

"I don't see why any of this matters," Ryoga said, "I didn't sign any contract so I don't have to marry anybody," He stated as he crossed his arms.

"I don't think you understand Son," Soun said, "Kenta likes you and wants you and he _will_ do _anything_ in order to get you. He might even threaten to kill the ones you love if you don't go along with it."

Ryoga paled as he heard that and he did not like getting roped into things like this. Ranma was supposed to be the one who got roped into forced engagements, not him. How could a monster like Kenta even still be able to walk the streets he asked himself, but before he could come up with something to say he heard Ranma ask, "If he's such a bad guy how do you know he won't just try and force Ryoga to marry Kaori if I do beat her?"

"If Kenta is one thing he is a man of his word I can assure you. He probably see's you as no threat and the reason he accepted the challenge is probably to rub it in Genma's face that his daughter is better." Soun said before he picked up his tea and took a long drawn out sip.

Ranma sighed as she stood up saying, "Well, I'm gonna go call Cologne maybe she'll know some kind of technique I can learn or some potion I can drink or somethin'," She then walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone as she dialed the number for the Neko-Hanten.

* * *

Shampoo was trying to get the table cleaned as fast as she possibly could as they were in the midst of a massive lunch rush. She was also in a sour mood because apparently there was going to be a big meeting in Tokyo today and a lot of the big wigs from the company had a hankering for Chinese cuisine. They also seemed to take a good look at a foreign beauty and couldn't keep their hands to themselves.

Mousse was in a horrible mood as well. He wanted to bash the living hell out of all of these horrendous old geezers who thought that they owned the world and could touch his darling Shampoo. But, on his honor as a martial artist he would probably end up killing or seriously injuring one of them if he did so, and on top of that the Old Ghoul had told him that these customers had lots of power and he was not to harm them or they would run the risk of losing their business.

Cologne was at her wit's end as these old coots just wouldn't leave her great-granddaughter alone and it was wearing her three hundred years of patience very thin as it was. She was just hoping for something to happen to take her mind away from these lecherous fools even if it was only for a second and it just so happened the phone started ringing, so she pogoed on her staff over to it and picked it up as she said, "Hello this is the Neko Hanten, Cologne speaking how may I help you?"

"Old gh... umm… Cologne I need your help," She heard Ranma's voice say with a hint of worry in it.

"What seems to be the problem Son-in… Ranma?" she asked.

She heard Ranma sigh before saying, "There is this person who I challenged and I have to win. Do you know any kind of technique or secret amazon potion that I could use to get some of my strength back or somethin'?"

Cologne shook her head not that Ranma could see it thinking, ' _how could Ranma be so stupid to challenge someone…'_ she then sighed, "No, I do not know of anything that will give you back any of your strength. If I did I would have given it to you already, but perhaps I can come over later and find out more details. We might be able to come up with something to help... The restaurant is very busy right now and I really don't have much time to be talking. I must go I'll be over after we close up the restaurant."

Cologne could hear the sadness in Ranma's voice as she spoke, "Oh, okay… thanks, Cologne… bye."

"Bye Ranma," Cologne said, as she hung up the phone and turned around to see Mousse's chains wrapped around a customer and Shampoo with her Chui's out about to hit the same customer over the head. She immediately pogoed over and bopped them both over the head hard enough to make them fall to the ground. Then used the Bakusai Tenketsu to break the chain releasing the customer.

She bowed her head as she said, "I apologize for the stupidity of my great-granddaughter and her boyfriend your meal will be free on us."

The man puffed out his chest and huffed before he sat back down at his booth and said, "It better be or I'll have this place shut down faster than you're going to end up in the retirement home." Then he started laughing as the rest of his three friends who were sitting in the booth with him followed suit.

Cologne narrowed her eyes at the young businessman before jumping up and patting him on the back in a certain spot saying, "I'll even give your three friends here a free bowl of ramen as well." Then pogoed back into the kitchen with a smile on her face thinking, ' _have fun being abstinent for the next year or two as you won't be able to get it up… even with all those new medicines, they have out nowadays…"_

* * *

Ranma wanted to slam the phone on the wall after she had gotten the news from Cologne, but she just calmly put it back as she felt another twinge in her lower body right before Ryoga walking into the kitchen and asked her, "What did she say… any good news?"

She shook her head as she said, "No, she said that if she knew of any way for me to get back my strength than she would have already given it to me…" She trailed off as tears welled up in her eyes and she ran over and wrapped her arms around Ryoga as she buried her head in his chest saying through sniffles, "What… am… I… gonna… do?"

Ryoga gently pushed her off and used his thumb to wipe away one of her tears as he looked her directly in the eye and said, "Are you Ranma?"

She looked at him in confusion as she nodded her head and sniffled before saying, "Y-yeah course I am."

"Really cause the Ranma I know doesn't cry when she thinks she's going to lose. The Ranma I know doesn't sit here and wallow in self-pity. The Ranma I know wouldn't give up, and I don't care what _we_ have to do you _will_ win that challenge." Ryoga said, as he held her out at arm's length by her shoulders.

"B-b-but how? I'm just a weak little girl… like my Pop's always says…" she said, as a single tear ran down her cheek and she sniffled before wiping her nose.

Ryoga gritted his teeth as he practically yelled at her, "Ranma you are not a weak little girl! I don't care what anybody ever says to you and I don't give a damn what your father thinks. You're Ranma Saotome greatest martial artist in the world and you are _not_ a weak little girl!"

"B-b-but-" she got that far before Ryoga grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her up the stairs. Once they got to the guest room he threw her in there and said, "Change into some clothes to spare in and hurry up dammit! If you make me wait I _will_ march in there and dress you myself." Then slammed the door closed leaving Ranma standing in her room blinking at it.

Ranma bit her lip as she walked over to a box in the corner of her room. She opened it up and pulled out a red Chinese shirt and black Chinese pants then laid them on her bed staring at them for a minute before grabbing them, throwing them back into the box, and closing it as she mumbled, "Those clothes are for the best martial artists, not me…"

She then walked over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of black leggings, and a dark blue polyester tank top. before walking over and laying them on her bed as she got undressed and changed into her workout clothes. A few minutes later she walked up to her door and opened it slowly before she walked out with her head hung low. She felt like a complete idiot for challenging Kaori now. She should have known better than to have been so stupid.

She didn't want to even go into the dojo. She hadn't even entered it unless it was to bring Akane or Ryoga some water, a towel, or to tell them that dinner was ready. She didn't feel like she belonged in there anymore because that's was where martial artists trained and she wasn't one of them anymore.

She sighed as she was still looking down not even noticing Ryoga standing there watching her, "You know you're going to win I don't care what you're thinking," Ryoga said.

She shook her head as she looked up at him and asked, "How do ya know that?"

He chuckled slightly as he walked over to her and looked her straight in the eye, "Because your Ranma and you never lose… Now, c'mon," he said, as he basically started dragging her down the stairs, through the dining room, and out the back doors.

When Ranma and Ryoga entered the dojo he brought her into the center of it and faced her as he said, "Now do a kata you should at least be able to do that."

Ranma nodded her head then swallowed hard as she closed her eyes and tried to find her center. She then separated her legs as she got into a staggered shoulder length stance. Then brought her arms up with one out in front of the other. When she opened her eyes, and saw Ryoga standing in front of her she blinked a few times then threw her arms back down in defeat as she said, "I-I can't remember how…"

Ryoga blinked at her in confusion a few times before asking, "What… y-you can't remember how to do any kata, at all? It's only been about a month how could you forget?"

She shrugged her shoulders as she said, "I dunno it's weird it's like I can remember myself doing them before but I can't remember how I did them."

Ryoga sighed as he just found out this was going to be a lot harder than he first thought it was going to be. He thought she would at least be able to do a simple kata now that plan seemed to be thrown out of the window.

"Look just watch me," Ryoga said, "and try to copy what I do alright."

Ranma nodded her head as she went and sat down in the corner of the dojo and started watching Ryoga perform his kata. He stood in the center of the room and took in a deep inhale then exhale as got into a fighting stance. He then threw a punch with all his might forwards then took a step to the right as he seemed to block an attack from an imaginary foe. He moved around gracefully as he moved right, left, forwards and backwards, while he was kicking, punching or blocking the attacks from his invisible sparring partner.

When he moved back into the center of the room he closed his eyes, lowered his defense, and let out a breath of air as he turned to face Ranma. When he opened his eyes he said, "That was the first kata I ever learned it's a simple one for new students in the art… my father taught it to me when I was just a little kid," He shook his head a little before continuing, "Anyway now you try it or… do I need to show you again?"

She stood up and shook her head, "Nahh, I think I got it…" she said as she walked to the center of the room while Ryoga went to the side and leaned up against the wall watching her.

She stood there for several minutes trying to find her center and when she thought she had it she moved into a defensive stance with her fists out in front of her and her legs shoulder length apart. She then threw out a punch forwards and took a step to the right only to trip on her own feet, fall forwards, and land on her face.

"Oww," she said as she was laying on the ground. Ryoga immediately went over and helped her up as she was rubbing her reddening cheek.

When she looked up and saw that Ryoga had a slight grin on his face she said, "Go ahead and laugh it up _P_ - _chan_ , I-I can't do this anymore…"

Ryoga then started busting out laughing before he felt her punch him in the arm and looked down to see her glaring up at him, "Aww, c'mon that was funny don't tell me that If I would've tripped over my own feet and landed on my face that you wouldn't have laughed at me?"

Ranma then started grinning a little as she said, "Alright it was kinda funny I guess… but what am I gonna do if I can't even do a basic kata?" she then threw her arms up in frustration.

"I think I know what you did wrong," Ryoga said as he walked to the center of the dojo and thrusted his fist out forwards and continued, "When you stepped right you were already trying to block so your feet got crossed," he stepped to the right and showed her what he was talking about as he went to block halfway through his step to the right. She then saw how if he wouldn't have stopped himself his feet would have become crossed and he would have fallen down just like she did.

He then turned to her and said, "Do you think you can try that?"

She bit her lip and nodded as she walked over to the center of the dojo and took his spot. He went back to leaning against the wall and watched her try to find her center before she thrusted her fist forwards then stepped to the right only to trip over her own feet again and fall face first back on the ground.

She flipped over and slammed her fist on the wooden floor as she exclaimed, "I can't do this," she then rose to her feet and started walking towards the exit as she said, "I should just go inside… I know mom and Kasumi probably need help in the kitchen."

She didn't get to step through exit though. Ryoga extended his arm out all but stopping her in her tracks, "What happened to you?" he asked.

She looked at him in confusion as she asked, "What do ya mean I can't do this cause of that pill?"

He shook his head, "I can understand you not knowing how to do a kata, I can even understand you having a hard time learning one, but what I can't understand is why your giving up," He said, as he looked her dead in the eyes and continued, "I never thought of you as a quitter. Maybe you should go inside and become a good little housewife so you can make some man happy someday, and I'll go marry Kaori all because you decided you're a quitter." He finished as he started walking out of the dojo himself.

Her eyebrow was twitching with anger as she yelled at him, "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A HOUSEWIFE!" she then marched over and ran around in front of him as she cracked her knuckles and said, "I'll show you bacon-butt."

Ranma then marched over and stood in the middle of the backyard. The sun was slowly taking it's decent across the darkening sky as she took a deep inhale then exhaled. She threw her fist out forwards and then took a step right as she blocked the blow. She smiled as she finally did it and moved on to the next move only to get tripped up on her own feet again and land on her bottom in the grass.

She instantly pushed herself off of the grassy backyard and scowled as she stood there trying to find her center again. She continued to try the kata in the backyard over and over again.

Ryoga watched her with a smile on his face. This was the Ranma that he knew and grew up with, this was the Ranma that would never give up, and he was glad she was starting to come back. Sure, she kept tripping over her own two feet or overextending her reach and would lose her balance only to fall on the ground again, but at least she wasn't giving up and kept going. He ended up walking over to the koi pond and sitting on one of the rocks as he continued watching her try to get the kata down for hours. ' _Ranma really is beautiful with the way the sunset is making her hair shine like that… What the hell… I gotta stop thinking about her like that or she's going to hate me…'_

Ranma had been at it for hours and she was frustrated to no end. It seemed every time she would get one step down she would forget about what she had just fixed and mess up again only to end up on her rear or flat on her own face.

* * *

Nodoka walked out of the house and smiled as she watched her daughter try the kata over and over again. It was nice to see Ranma practicing the art again even if she kept falling down. She stood there for several minutes just watching her daughter who was covered in dirt from head to toe and had grass sticking out of her hair before she called out, "Dinner is ready dears, oh and Ranma you might want to wash up a bit before you come in and eat."

Ranma jumped when she heard her mother's voice and promptly fell back on her rear end again. She scowled slightly as she picked herself back up and knocked the dirt off of her leggings that she was wearing. She then turned to her mother and blew some stray hairs out of her face before saying, "Alright, mom thanks."

She honestly didn't want to stop trying to get the kata down just to go eat but she was getting hungry, and she wasn't getting anywhere with the kata. So, she walked into the house and made a beeline for the kitchen to wash the dirt that had built up on her arms and face off. Before walking into the dining room and taking a seat next to her mother and Ryoga at the table as she started filling a bowl with rice and other foods.

"So, you're starting to train again Ranma?" Akane asked as she just took a bite of food, "That's good if you plan on beating Kaori somehow."

Ranma sighed as she turned to look at Akane, "Kinda sorta I'm not any good and I'm not getting anywhere…"

Ryoga wiped his mouth on his sleeve before saying, "That's a lie she's making progress."

Ranma turned glared at him before saying, "How can you say that? Every time I get one step down it's like I just forget what I fixed and I end up back at square one," She huffed before turning her attention back to her bowl of food.

Ryoga chuckled slightly before saying, "You're making progress because you're not giving up like you were before,"

She blinked a few times as she still had her chopsticks in her mouth. After, she swallowed the food in her mouth she turned and looked up at him with hopeful eyes and a slight grin as she asked, "Y-you mean that?"

"Of course," Ryoga said looking down at her in confusion before continuing, "The first step to learning anything is to never give up. If you do that then you'll never get anywhere." Then he turned his attention back to his bowl of food.

Ranma nodded her head as she silently squeaked out a small, "Oh, right…" before she started eating again.

"I believe in you dear," Nodoka said, "I think you'll beat that Kaori girl and show Kenta what us Saotome's are made of."

Ranma turned her head and looked up to see her mother smiling down at her. All she did was nod her head as she turned her attention back to her food. She didn't believe her mother there was no way that she was going to be able to beat Kaori. It wouldn't matter if Kaori had only taken beginner martial arts classes she didn't think she could beat someone with even minimal training, and on top of that at least Kaori could probably do a kata.

Soon everyone was done eating dinner and after having her body completely exhausted from practicing that kata over and over again as well as her bottom and her face hurting she didn't feel like doing anything until Cologne showed up. Soun and Ryoga had gone into the dojo to spar a bit. While her mom and Kasumi were in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes from dinner. She then noticed Nabiki and Akane sitting in front of the T.V. trying to finish the episode that Nabiki had recorded, so she got up and plopped down next to Akane.

"What's so great about this show?" Ranma asked, but quickly got "Shushed" by the other two girls who seemed to be too absorbed into the show to tell her what was going on.

She quickly realized why Akane liked this show so much as she saw a really handsome sandy-haired Doctor on the screen sitting at a dinner table across from a gorgeous blond. They were inside of a really extravagant looking restaurant eating some sort of western cuisine that she had seen before but didn't know the name of.

She watched as the Doctor reach his arm across and lay it on the woman's as he said, "Suko, I have always loved you ever since I first seen you walk into my medical wing."

The women seemed to blush then brought her other hand up to her mouth as she said, "Oh, Doctor you don't know how long I have waited to hear you say that."

"Suko…" the doctor said quietly as he leaned across the table.

"Doctor…" Suko said as she leaned across as well and their lips met right before the show cut off saying, "Wait till next week when we get to see the repercussions of Suko and the 'Desirable Doctors' relationship at the hospital. How will the rest of the medical wing react when they find out..."

The show continued talking about the next episode as Ranma heard Akane cooed as she said, "Wow that doctor is _soo_ romantic."

Ranma shook her head as she exclaimed, "That was stupid I can't believe I wasted my time watching that."

Akane huffed as she turned around, "Like you would know what's romantic."

Ranma rolled her eyes as she said, "That would never work on me… I mean honestly, I would not want a guy to say something that cheesy to me," She then huffed as she crossed her arms.

Akane blinked at Ranma, "Wait… you were thinking about yourself as the girl?"

Ranma swallowed as she turned back to face Akane looking at her in confusion and Nabiki was smirking at her, "N-no course not that's not what I meant I just mean umm…" she paused for a second then she said, "It's just stupid anyway ya look at it. No guy would ever say something like that and no girl would react that way," she then snorted before she added, "It's just stupid."

Akane seemed to accept that answer, she could agree it was quite cheesy, she had to admit that, but she wouldn't mind someone saying those things to her. This was her favorite show on T.V. even though she figured she could act circles around most of the girls on the show. She fell in love with it back when she used to have her super crush on Dr. Tofu.

Akane turned away from Ranma to face her sister and asked, "Did you record last week's episode too? I want to watch it again."

Nabiki nodded, "Yeah, it's in my room if you want to go get it… it should be right on top of my bookshelf."

Akane said, "Alright I'll be right back," as she got up to leave and started climbing the stairs leaving Ranma and Nabiki alone. Once Akane was gone Nabiki instantly smirked at Ranma as she said, "I bet you wouldn't mind Ryoga saying those things to you."

Ranma's eyes bulged out of her head as she turned to face Nabiki, "W-what hell no… I-I ain't that way where the hell didja get that idea anyway?" She stuttered a bit as she looked away from Nabiki trying to hide her reddening face.

"Oh, c'mon Ranma- _chan_ it's not that hard to see especially the way you said, 'Oh, my darling Ryoga-kun lunch is ready I would be _sooo_ glad to bring it out for you,'" Nabiki said in a cute voice as she put her chin in her hands and fluttering her eyelashes.

Ranma turned around to face Nabiki with her face as red as a beat as she proclaimed, "I didn't say t-that and I definitely didn't sound like that!" She then added mentally, ' _I hope I didn't say it like that…"_

Nabiki snorted as she said, "Well, you might as well have with the way you went from arguing with me then started practically running back into the kitchen for him. Not to mention that little outburst when Kenta said he was going to take him away from you," Nabiki finished with a smile.

Ranma gritted her teeth as she said, "He's helped out a lot here lately and I was just being nice geez that's all, and it's not fair for him to get roped into this mess either..."

Nabiki opened her mouth to say something back but right as soon as she did so both girls heard an old and crusty sounding female voice chuckling while saying, "As much as I enjoyed listening to you two children bicker over love I have things to do,"

Cologne then pogoed over to the table and hopped off of her staff as she poured herself a cup of tea before turning to Ranma and asking, "Now what is this challenge and how can I help?"

Ranma drooped her head as she turned to face Cologne who was sitting at the opposite end of the table sipping from her steaming cup of tea, "Cologne, there's this monster named Kenta and his daughter Kaori…"

* * *

Kaori was following her father down the concrete sidewalks of the Nerima ward of Tokyo Japan. She didn't understand why her father was so adamant about making her take away that Ranma girl's boyfriend. It was clear to her that Ryoga had no interest in her and it seemed wrong to force the boy into a relationship that he didn't even want to be a part of as well, "Father, I don't think it's right what you're doing to that Ranm-"

She only got the far before Kenta spun around and backhanded her across the face knocking to the ground with a hard thud, "Did I ask you if it was right, _girl!"_ He snarled, as he looked down at his daughter who was laying on the ground rubbing her cheek with tears running down her face as he continued, "Just for that I'm cutting back your meals I think you're getting too fat."

Kaori hated her father but there was nothing that she could do. He was a powerful man and he always put her in her place. She wiped some tears from her eyes as she picked up herself off of the ground and turned to her father and bowed before saying, "I'm sorry father please forgive me,"

Kenta snorted, "Forgive you for what? I spent years coming up with this plan all on my own and it was all for nothing! When I found out that I was going to have a hideous, worthless, daughter like you that couldn't carry on my school. I went after Genma to take my revenge only to find out he was going to have a child."

Kenta smiled for a second as he remembered that day before scowling even deeper as the events of today came to the forefront of his mind, "I wanted to take his boy away from him and have Ranma as my own, but the bastard lied to me to save his own worthless life. He even forged birth certificates and moved all over Japan and China running from me that worthless coward!"

Kaori still had her head bowed to her father so he couldn't see her face in utter anguish. She wasn't hideous but when her father would say those things to her it would make her feel like the ugliest thing on the planet. It also hurt the way that she would look at herself in the mirror or when she would catch a glimpse of herself while walking by a window. Kaori, in her mind really did think that she was ugly.

Kaori used to have confidence and didn't have a care in the world back in grade school when her mother was still around. She was really happy then and she had a lot of friends. They would play every day after school, but for some reason when she came home from school one day her father had some bags packed and said they were going on a trip. That was over ten years ago, and she didn't even know if her mother was alive anymore.

"I'm sorry that your plan is ruined father," Kaori said, "I dearly hope you can-"

Kenta cut her off as he yelled at her, "Straighten up let me get a look at you!" She immediately straightened up to face her father. He took one good look at her and his face twisted in disgust as he said, "Fix yourself up you look horrible! I don't even want to look at you and why are you crying?"

Kaori shook her head, "I-I'm sorry father it's just that it hurt when yo-" She got that far before Kenta smacked her across the face again. Luckily this time she was prepared for it and went with the blow trying to save her swelling cheek.

"Does it look like I care if it hurts you? And, pick your ugly ass up you look like a whore laying on the ground like that," Kenta yelled, at his daughter as he watched her slowly climbed to her feet on wobbly legs.

Kenta the grabbed her by the collar of her dress and pushed her in front of him almost making her fall to the ground again as he said, "Now get walking I have a board meeting with my company in morning and I need my sleep."

Kaori nodded her head slowly as she started walking. Every time he did this she hoped someone walking by would step in, but her father was such an intimidating looking man no one really ever tried. And, even when they did Kenta would usually hurt them so bad that they would never even be able to think about helping someone else again. They would have to worry more about someone hurting them from now on.

* * *

Cologne nodded her head, "I see so this man practices Nothing Goes martial arts… interesting I never would have thought someone would have been able to come up such a school."

Ranma nodded her head, "Yeah, yeah I don't care about any of that I need a way to get some of my strength back… Maybe some super soba noodles or somethin'?" Ranma looking up at Cologne with hopeful eyes.

Cologne shook her head, "The magic in the super soba noodles would do nothing for you. That's like throwing a cup of tea on a wildfire hoping that it would stop it."

Ranma lowered her head, "So, what can I do? I tried learning a kata, but it seemed every time I got the first few steps down I would forget them or somethin…"

Cologne nodded, "That's because you have probably already learned that kata before. That's what the pill did when it locked your martial arts from you. This kata was probably a beginner one I assume, so it is possible that your father taught it to you when you were younger and you just can't remember it."

Ranma blinked as she heard this, "Wait, so all I have to do is find a technique I haven't learned yet and I could use it?"

Cologne sighed, "I guess that is what I just said… but with that being said, you have already learned almost every single form of martial arts in Japan and possibly even China just from the training trip with your father. Also, I assume you picked up many things just from interacting with all of those weird schools that popped up since you have arrived in Nerima."

Ranma couldn't believe this. She would never have thought that being such a great martial artist would come to make her a horrible one, "Ugh, what the hell… what about you? I know you have a lot of Amazon techniques that you could teach me?" She asked as she bit her lip hoping Cologne might have something.

"Sorry, Ranma," Cologne said, "every technique I could teach you would require you to have more than basic training. You have the same body as well as Ki stores of an average girl, there is nothing I could teach you that wouldn't seriously harm you or even kill you."

They sat there in silence for a while before Cologne spoke up, "Where is that Hibiki boy at? That great-granddaughter of mine said that he was helping watch over you?"

Ranma nodded her head as she said, "Yeah, he's been a big help and he's in the dojo training with Soun right now, why do ya ask?"

"Good, I was wondering where Tendo-san was at too," Cologne said, "and, with as much knowledge as I have and with those two we might be able to come up with something that you could learn."

Ranma nodded her head as she led Cologne out the back doors and across the yard towards the dojo. This was her last chance hopefully Ryoga or Soun would know something that she could learn. She was literally at her wit's end as it seemed she was doomed to fail, and she didn't know what could those two come up with that Cologne couldn't have.

The instant they walked into the dojo the sparing stopped between the two combatants. Soun instantly bent over gasping for air while Ryoga walked up to them both and asked, "So... uhh any good news?"

Ranma shook her head, "No, not really, but I found out why I couldn't do that kata…" Ranma and Cologne then explained why Ranma wasn't able to learn the kata and how hard it would be for her to actually win this challenge. The only good thing it seemed was that there was a small possibility that Ranma could learn a technique that might let her win.

Ranma, Ryoga, and Soun were all sitting in the dojo facing Cologne listening to her explain the situation. Ranma was sitting next to Ryoga with her head hung low. This was the second time she had heard it and it didn't make her feel any better.

"So, do you two have any ideas?" Cologne asked.

Ryoga sat there for a minute digesting her words. He figured the pill was effecting Ranma's abilities, but he didn't think it would be that bad. He then turned his head and saw Ranma moping again and hated that she was feeling this way. That was when he had an idea and perked up as he snapped his fingers, "She could learn the Bakusai Tenketsu," He said, triumphantly.

Ranma instantly snapped her head up and looked up at like he was a complete moron, "Are you stupid or somethin? What are ya doing, tryin' ta get me killed?"

Ryoga looked down at her confused right before he felt a sharp pain on top of his head, "Oww," he said as he looked up to see Cologne standing in front of him shaking her head as she said, "Where you even listening? One blow from a boulder would kill her instantly,"

Cologne then hobbled back to the center of the dojo, "Now, does anyone else have any more great ideas?"

Soun sat there scratching his chin deep in thought and couldn't for the life of him think of any technique that Ranma hadn't already learned. Even though Ranma was only sixteen years of age she had already pretty much surpassed him in skill and knowledge in the art itself. He really couldn't think of a single thing to help her this was when he heard Ryoga speak up again.

"What about that thing our teacher uses," Ryoga said as he turned to Ranma, "You know that thing where she takes people's Ki and stuff? You never learned that, did you?"

Ranma sat there blinking at him because that was actually not a bad idea, but there was one problem with that, "That could work, but isn't that one of the Master's techniques? Kenta might already know how ta counter it… I mean the old pervert already had a scroll on how to beat Ms. Hinako"

Cologne was actually surprised that the Hibiki boy had said something useful, "Happy, may have said the technique was his, but it is actually an old Amazon technique. He stole it from us back in my youth… this might just work," she said.

"But, Kenta would already know the counter for it," Ranma said, "So, it wouldn't work."

Cologne shook her head, "Happy, only stole a portion of the technique. It is actually how we Amazons live such long lives and maintain our good figures," she said, as she ran a hand through her hair, "This teacher of yours changes form and can use the Ki she has absorbed as an attack which is only part of the technique… There are more ways to use it than just that though."

Cologne chuckled slightly as she continued, "Why do you think I use my staff to hit people all of the time?"

"Is it so that ya absorb some Ki and use it to stay uhh… alive and stuff?" Ranma said.

Cologne nodded as she said, "Precisely, my staff is made to be used as a focal point much like how you will have to use a round object as one. We will most likely have to use a different set of Ki points and it might take some time to get them to open up in order to avoid any counters this Kenta person might know of... I would say it's a good thing you have two weeks to prepare for this as we just might be able to make it,"

Cologne then paused as she noticed a perplexed look on Ranma's face, "What is it? I thought you would be happy about this news?"

Ranma bit her lip as she said, "I-I am… it's just that… well, I'm not gonna get stuck as a little kid If I'm not charged up on Ki am I?"

Cologne chuckled, "No, no nothing like that will happen… wait is that what your teacher's original form is?" she saw Ranma and Ryoga both nod their head, "Happy, can be so stupid sometimes… The technique should never be taught to children even if it is such an easy technique to learn."

"So, when are we gonna start?" Ranma asked.

"First, I need to see what points Happosai used so that we can avoid reusing the same ones," Cologne said, and Ranma blushed as she remembered all the trouble she had to go through in order to stop Ms. Hinako the first time and where the points where.

Ranma then raised her hand and brought it up to her chest to show where it was at and she couldn't help it when she had to grope herself in the process, "They were right here," she said and held it there long enough for cologne to see before she quickly removed her hand, and looked away. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed that Ryoga and Soun had just seen her do that for some reason.

Ryoga blushed when he saw that and Soun quickly diverted his eyes as he thought of Ranma as his own daughter now and wouldn't ever want to see his daughters do that to themselves. It didn't matter how many times he had seen Ranma running around the house before in the buff. Things were just different now.

Cologne narrowed her eyes, "Of course, that old pervert would use those points don't worry though, I am teaching Shampoo the technique and I assure you there are many different areas that we can use instead."

"You're teaching it to her why?" Ranma asked, "I mean I figured she wouldn't need it she's already pretty powerful and stuff."

"We always teach it to the warriors of our tribe when they reach the proper age as it allows them to retain their younger bodies for a longer period of time as well as give them enough time to find a proper mate," Cologne said.

Ranma sat there and started beaming. It seemed that she actually might be able to beat the Kaori girl now. All she would have to do is drain her and the battle would be hers. She turned and stared at Ryoga for a second and wanted to hug him for his idea, but she though against it with all the people in the room.

"I am a busy woman how about I send Shampoo over once a day and she can run you through the exercises and teach you the technique she has almost mastered it herself, and this would be good training for her as well," Cologne paused, "Now, if that is all I will take my leave?"

Soun nodded as he got up, "It is getting quite late for me as well I think I will turn in for the night," He walked over to the doorway then continued, "It was nice of you to stop by Elder and I hope this plan works," Then he walked out of the dojo.

Ryoga got up right after him, "Yeah, I need to catch up on some homework I'm still pretty far behind as it is," he said, as he walked out of the dojo a second later.

Once the two of them were gone Cologne waited for Ranma to take her leave, but turned to see Ranma standing there rubbing her toe in the wooden floor of the dojo, "Is something the matter?" she asked as she hopped over to Ranma.

Ranma nodded her head as she looked down at Cologne and bit her lip before asking, "I… um… was just wonderin' can a Jusenkyo curse change how you feel and stuff?"

Cologne looked at Ranma in confusion before saying, "I don't understand you will have to explain what you are talking about a little more."

Ranma swallowed hard as it was making her feel quite embarrassed to bring up this certain topic. She was glad that Ryoga and Soun were gone because it would have been way too awkward if they were still here, and she needed to know this for herself, "Well, ya see I have been kinda… um having feelings… no, I mean thoughts about boys and stuff lately… and I was just wonderin' if that's my curse and stuff?" she asked.

Cologne stared at Ranma thinking, ' _I can't possibly bring up the pill and say that's why she's noticing boy's even more in her cursed form than before... although she should have already known about this certain aspect of her curse...'_ Cologne put on an act as she started chuckled for a second or two and this made Ranma turn red with rage as she said, "If your just gonna laugh at me ya Old Ghoul then-"

Cologne waved her off as she spoke, "I am not laughing about your feeling or thoughts as you said I can assure you," She paused, "To be honest, Ranma, I thought you already knew about this aspect of your curse."

Ranma rage died down and she blinked at Cologne, "What do you mean?" she asked, in confusion.

"What I mean is that you were cursed to have a human form from Jusenkyo and every human curse has some side effects that come along with it," Cologne said then noticed the look on Ranma's face and knew she was going to have to explain it in more detail, "think about the other human curses such as the spring of the Drowned Buddhist priest or even the spring of Drowned Pious Man they both had personalities associated with them."

Cologne noted the horrified look on Ranma's face and noted that she was probably worried about turning into some sort of girly girl, "Now, don't worry yourself, you may have a human curse but yours is very different from the others I can assure you, and you won't start acting like a full-fledged teenage girl... unless you want to act that way on your own that is," Cologne finished with a slight grin.

Ranma crossed her arms and glared at Cologne as she said, "I would never act that way," she paused as she recalled what Ryoga had told her about eating pig slop a few weeks ago and was about to ask Cologne if animal curses do something similar but held her tongue as they had promised not to say anything from that night, "I think I understand, but what does that have ta do with me liking boy's… wait no I mean _thinking_ about them and stuff?"

"It has everything to do with it, when you are male you are attracted to girls so it goes without saying that when you are female you would be attracted to boy's," Cologne said, with a slight grin, then continued, "That is one of the reasons I let Mousse stay with me as well. I was hoping he might interest your cursed form and I could get you into the tribe that way... but fate had other plans."

Ranma looked up and wrinkled her nose at that thought, "But, I never had these thoughts before I got locked I just don't understand…"

Cologne chuckled as she said, "Are you sure? I did hear that you dressed up for that Hibiki boy on more than just one occasion?"

Ranma blushed at the mention of his name then thought about that, ' _maybe I did always go a little too far when I was doing that sorta stuff… that also means that these aren't really my feelings though... it's just my curse messing with me…'_ She then slowly nodded her head as she said sadly, "I guess... I might have but I never noticed it before or anythin'."

Cologne saw the reaction Ranma displayed after she said had sunk in and instantly knew what this was all about so she hopped over little closer to Ranma and said, "Ranma, listen to me if you do like some boy do not feel bad about going through with it. We cannot choose who or what we like as humans, so don't feel like you need to push these feelings aside. They are still your feelings after all and the curse may make you like a boy, but I assure you it cannot make you fall in love with a boy you do that on your own."

Ranma slowly grinned as she heard that, "Thanks, that actually… makes me feel a lot better… I uhh maybe… I dunno yet though…"

"Think about it, and I'll be sending Shampoo over after we finish serving breakfast for your training she still needs to work at the restaurant after all," She paused as she looked up at the now smiling redhead, "I'll be taking off now have a good night."

"Umm… have a good night Cologne," Ranma said, as she watched Cologne pogo out of the open dojo doors then leaped on top of the roof and bounded off into the night sky. Ranma couldn't help herself from smiling because that may not have been the best news about her curse, but at least she knew it wasn't her curse making her fall in love with a boy it was just making her attracted to them. Also, she now had a plan in order to beat Kaori and save her family as well as Ryoga.

* * *

Nodoka was sitting in the dining room nursing a cup of tea when she saw Ryoga and Soun walk in, but didn't see her daughter following them. Five minutes went by and she began to worry a bit so she got up and poked her head out of the back doors only to see her daughter still covered in filth standing in the dojo smiling to herself.

This calmed her nerves some, she couldn't help but feel protective over Ranma ever since all the recent events had happened. She then began to walk across the yard as she called out, "Ranma dear," she noticed the redhead jumped from her voice and she chuckled on the inside as she approached her daughter, "My you are filthy," she said as she ruffled Ranma's hair, "do you want to take a bath with me, dear? And, you can tell me all about what is making you so happy?"

Ranma looked down at herself and noticed that even though her arms were clean, the rest of her was still grimy. Then she pulled her tank top out and took a whiff and wrinkled her nose at the smell she was putting off, "Yeah, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea mom," Ranma said, as she followed her mother across the yard and into the house.

A few moments later Ranma and Nodoka entered the bathroom and locked the door behind them both. Ranma had gotten used to undressing around the girls at school during gym, and she had also bathed with her mother on several occasions to save the Tendo's some money on the water bill. So, it was no big deal for her now when she would see her mother or the girls at school naked anymore. Plus, she had a female body of her own so it wasn't like they had anything that she hadn't seen before.

Ranma and her mother quickly got undressed and walked through the separating doors and into the furo. They each grabbed a bucket and a stool in order to wash away today's filth and grime that had built up on them both but especially on Ranma. After they were both clean they stepped into the steaming water that was in the furo.

Ranma let out a blissful sigh as she said, "I don't think I'll ever get used to how good this feels," while she was laying in the warm water with her head laying back on the edge.

Nodoka nodded her head in agreement as she knew just how good it felt to take a nice warm soak at the end of the day, "Yes, dear it is quite relaxing… but did it not feel just as good when you were a boy?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma rose her head up off of the edge and thought about that for a moment then shrugged her shoulders as she said, "Honestly, I don't know… when I could change I usually just got cleaned up in a hurry… that and I was worried Akane was gonna walk in on me, so, I never really got a chance to just sit and soak," she paused, "Well, I guess there were a few times when we would go to the public bathhouses, but I was always so worried about changing I never really got to relax y'know."

"I see… I don't think I would be able to relax on the girl's side knowing that I could turn into a man either," Nodoka said, "How about you turn around and let me wash your back?"

Ranma nodded her head and smiled as she turned around and started letting her mother scrub her back. She could help but let out little slight moans of pleasure from the experience, and she didn't think she wanted it to ever it to end. Especially when her mother would rub her shoulders in certain spots and she could feel the tension of the day leaving her body.

Nodoka chuckled slightly at the effect this was having on Ranma but stopped when she saw Ranma jerk slightly, "What was that dear? Did I hit a bruise or something?"

Ranma shook her head slightly as she didn't know what made her tense up either. It was almost as if someone had just stabbed her in the stomach, "I-I don't know… I probly just moved wrong or I'm sore or somethin' from when I was doin' that kata and kept fallin' down."

' _The way she jerked it couldn't be could it... i_ _t has been over a month since she got locked… it could be… well, better not freak her out if it isn't…'_ Nodoka thought before saying, "Well, why don't you turn around and tell me what was making you so happy dear."

Ranma then turned to face her mother as she laid her back up against the edge of the furo with a smile, "Well, the first thing that made me happy was that Cologne told me why I couldn't learn the kata. See what she said was that the pill still has my knowledge of the art locked, so anythin' that I've learned before I can't relearn until it's unlocked or whatever."

Nodoka rose an eyebrow as she looked at Ranma before saying, "That doesn't sound like very good information to me dear, how is that going to help?"

Ranma then started beaming, "Cause Ryoga was really smart mom… Ya see we were all sitting there tryin' to come up with somethin' for me to use and even Cologne couldn't think of anythin', But Ryoga came up with the idea of me using Ms. Hinako's Ki draining technique thing." Ranma said, and to her, it was like Ryoga had never even mentioned using the Bakusai Tenketsu training.

Nodoka noticed the dreamy look in her daughters' eyes but decided to not say anything about it at this time, "I see so this technique will help you win against this Kaori girl?" she asked.

Ranma nodded her head, "Yeah, it's a really powerful technique you use it to drain your opponent's Ki and you can also use it as an attack… I was barely able to beat Ms. Hinako when she first showed up at school that's how powerful it is Mom."

Nodoka then realized something, "Wait… I've spoken to your teacher before and I swear I could remember her saying that Happosai was the one who taught her this technique... Kenta and Kaori could already know a counter for it and that could be a problem."

Ranma smiled and she shook her head, "That's the thing the Old Pervert actually stole it from the Amazons that's actually how Cologne lives so long, so, she's gonna get Shampoo to come over and teach me the technique using a different set of Ki points and stuff."

Even though Ranma was so giddy and happy about this Nodoka couldn't but feel like her daughter was holding something from her so she asked, "Is that all of the good news you got from Cologne dear?"

Once Ranma heard her mother ask her _that_ she instantly tensed up. She didn't know if she could admit the things that she had just said to Cologne to her own mother. Her mother had been kind of pushing her to take an interest in boys, and she couldn't count how many times her mother had pointed a good-looking guy out when they were walking around the town, but she would quickly wave her mother off as it would embarrass her to no end.

Nodoka noticed how tense Ranma seemed to get when she asked this, so it made her that much more curious, "You know dear, you can tell me anything I am your mother after all," She said. Nodoka felt that she needed to reassure her daughter that she was there for her.

Ranma then looked up at her mom and bit her lip before she said, "Well… ya see… I've been kinda…" She paused as she didn't think she was ready to admit it yet before she continued, "Well, Cologne told me some stuff about my curse and it made me feel a lot better about some things is all."

"Oh, what made you feel so much better about your curse? I would love to know dear?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma moved her eyes from side to side trying to find some answer that she could use then she finally found one, "Well, she told me why we like or do certain things in our cursed forms is cause of the type of thing that drowned there can kinda change us and stuff."

Nodoka tilted her head to the side as she thought about that for a second before asking, "And, why would that make you feel better dear?"

' _I_ _s she ever gonna stop prying geez what do I gotta do… Should I just tell her? She is my mom and I should be able to trust her... this is so embarrassing,'_ She thought to herself, before hanging her head and said super-fast, " **C** ause **s** he **t** old **m** e **t** hat **t** he **c** urse **m** ay **m** ake **m** e **l** ike **b** oys, **b** ut **i** t **d** oesn't **m** ake **m** e **l** ove **t** hem!" right before she ducked her head under the water just enough for her eyes to poke out above the water line and started staring at her mother.

Nodoka blinked at Ranma, "Did you just say that you…" she saw Ranma nod her head and ripples of water started to roll across the water. The last part puzzled Nodoka though she didn't understand why that would make Ranma happy, "You said the curse doesn't make you fall in love with them though… what would make you happy about that dear?" She asked.

Ranma turned bright red and rose from the water as she started fiddling with her two index fingers, "Cause I thought that the curse was making me love someone, but Cologne said that it can't do that… she said that love umm… that we fall in love on our own…"

Nodoka was so happy that she was most likely going to have grandbabies in the future now that she wanted to get up and start dancing, but kept her nerves under control. Plus, she still didn't know who her daughter liked. Well, she had a good guess but she still wasn't quite sure, "That is lovely dear I am very happy that you told me tha-"

She got cut off as Ranma proclaimed, "Please, don't tell anyone mom… all my friends would think I'm some sorta pervert or somethin'!" then she added a second later, "And it's the curse doin' it not me."

"You think I would ever tell someone about this," Nodoka then noticed the questioning look on her daughters' face and rolled her eyes as she said, "How about we keep this as our little secret then?"

Ranma nodded, "Thanks, mom, well it's getting late how about we get out of the furo now?" she said, as she started to get up but stopped when she heard her mother say.

"Ranma, wait, sit back down please," Nodoka watched as her daughter sat back down in the water and started fidgeting nervously, "Who is this boy that you like dear… you know I must approve of him before I will allow you to date him."

"I'm _not_ gonna date em I don't even know if I _really_ like em or not mom… it could just be the curse messing with me or somethin'." Ranma said.

"Well, then at least tell me his name, so, that I'll know what kind of boy is your type?" Nodoka asked as she eyed her daughter who seemed to keep fidgeting more and more.

' _This is so embarrassing I mean I'm a guy I shouldn't even be thinking these things about other guys…_ _Well, you don't look like much of a guy right now._ _That's only cause I'm locked right now, and that doesn't change what I was born as._ _Does that really matter though if you are in love, then your mother should at least know his name ne?_ _I ain't in love with_ _ **him**_ _of all people I just kinda like em is all. Ya, know I really hate talking to ya!_ _Well, like I said before your talking to yourself, and mom is staring at you waiting...'_ Ranma thought, then looked away from her mother as she said, "It's… uhh… R-ryoga…"

"I knew it!" Nodoka exclaimed before calming down and saying, "Oh, I think he is a wonderful choice dear, and he is very manly," She then thought, ' _T_ _his could be a problem though if Ranma gets too attached to Ryoga-kun than loses him in the challenge she could take it really hard… better not bring that up though I don't want her to think that her own mother thinks she might lose…'_

"Geez, don't get too excited mom, I mean it's just that I like em a little is all. Plus, he likes Akane not me so it'll probly' not even work out even if I wanted it to…" She trailed off as she hated talking about this subject.

Nodoka smiled down at her daughter, "Oh, I think he likes you too I've seen the way he looks at you."

Ranma smiled as she started twirling a piece of her hair around her finger, "R-really, h-how does he look at me? Y-you think he might actually like me?" Then she froze with her mouth agape and quickly shot her hand down from her hair as she thought, ' _Dammit did I really just act like that… I guess it doesn't matter anymore… I just gotta keep it under control when I'm not around mom or everyone else is gonna think I'm some type 'a weirdo…"_

Nodoka giggled as it seemed Ranma like Ryoga a lot more than she thought she did, "Yes, dear, his eyes do seem to drift in your direction more often than naught. I would say he likes you a lot even if he might not admit it," Nodoka said, then noticed the remorse look on her daughters' face and couldn't think of a reason why she would go from beaming to looking so sad, "What's wrong dear, shouldn't that make you happy?"

Ranma looked up at her mother and swallowed a lump as she said, "It's just that I'm a guy mom I-I can't like Ryoga like that... I mean if what Cologne said is true then when I can change back I won't even like him anymore. Plus, if I lose to Kaori then all of this doesn't even matter..." she trailed off as she still couldn't believe she was talking about this certain topic.

Nodoka looked her daughter right in the eye as she said, "I don't see a guy in front of me right now I only see my daughter and... why don't you stop worrying about changing back and focus on what you're feeling right now. That is what Cologne said is it not that the curse doesn't make you love him, but it just makes you attracted to him,"

Nodoka put her finger up to her chin then smiled at Ranma as she continued, "Why don't you use this time while you are stuck to find out your true feelings for Ryoga-kun. And, as far as that last bit goes about Kaori well… I don't have a doubt in my mind that you'll beat her," She finished by shooting Ranma a motherly smile, "That being said we have been in here for quite some time why don't we get out before we get all wrinkly," She said as she started getting up out of the furo.

Ranma nodded her head and followed her mother out of the water. She grabbed a towel and started to dry off her body some before grabbing another one for her hair, "I-I guess and, Hey mom?" She said as she started running the towel through her hair.

Nodoka had just got done drying her own hair and was about to put on a bathrobe before she turned to face Ranma and asked,"Yes dear?"

"Thanks, for talking to me about this stuff… I was really embarrassed about it… and you made it less weird and stuff," Ranma said as she walked over and started to grab a bathrobe herself.

"Of course, dear, I am your mother after all and it is my duty to help my daughter with… relationship issues," Nodoka said, as she started to open the furo doors with Ranma on here heels.

While Ranma was following Nodoka, _'Why do I like it so much when Mom calls me her daughter? Do I wanna be a… no it's gotta be the way I see how happy she gets and I wanna make her happy...'_ she got pulled out of her thoughts as she heard her mother asked her something.

"Huh, what was that mom?" Ranma asked, then noticed that she was in her room just standing there as her mother was trying to find something to wear to bed.

Nodoka paused her search as she tilted up her head and said, "I said, could you close the door dear, I really don't want to change with it being open." Nodoka then turned her attention back to her search for a second before pulling out a pair of red pajamas.

"Oh, sure," Ranma said as she went over and closed the door before walking over to her dresser and pulling out a pair of dark blue pajamas to wear.

When Nodoka was dressed she waited for her daughter to finish before walking over towards the door and saying, "I'll be sleeping in Kasumi's room if you need anything dear." Soun had refused to allow her to sleep in the dojo by herself, and she wasn't going to be caught sleeping in his bed every night. She could have slept in her daughters' room, but she knew that when she was that age she wouldn't have wanted her own mother sleeping in her room. So, she chose to make other arrangements with Kasumi.

Ranma nodded her head as she watched her mother leave, then instantly ran and dove under the covers on her bed snuggled up to Miss. P. She was completely exhausted from the long day that she had. From having to wake up and go jogging with Akane, go to school, come home to only get tangled up in another engagement, and then spend pretty much the rest of the training. You could say that she was more than ready to go to sleep.

* * *

Ranma only closed her eyes for a second before she realized something was off. She jolted up with Miss. P still in her hand and looked around the room as her eyes fell on the empty futon laying on her floor.

Her eyes instantly went wide as she thought, ' _No h-he didn't get lost, did he?'_ and she ran out of her room. She raced down the stairs frantically with her heart beating like a drum in her chest, but she was quickly relieved when she saw him sitting at the dining table working on his homework.

Ryoga heard noises on the staircase and seen her standing there. He raised an eyebrow at how panicky she looked, "Are you alright?" he asked. He watched her walk over panting for air and sit down next to him.

She turned towards him with relief in her eyes and she said, "Yeah, I'm fine I just thought ya got lost is all," She then turned to see he was doing the math homework.

"Wait… that's why you looked so worried… it's cause you were worried about me?" Ryoga asked.

She snorted as she said, "N-not like that d-dumbass," she paused as she started twiddling her fingers, "and of course I was worried about ya… you're my best friend and stuff…" she trailed off and bit her lip then continued as she asked, "So you're working on that math homework?"

Ryoga blinked at her as he thought, ' _Yeah, just friends…'_ before saying, "Right… and yeah I'm still a little bit behind, but I'm catching back up with you all pretty quick," he then tapped his pencil on his paper as he was staring down at the problem, "Ahh, that's it I get it now!" he said triumphantly as he started understanding the problem and working it out.

Ranma looked over at what he was scribbling down and it really didn't make sense to her, ' _I don't think I'll ever be able to understand that stuff…'_ she thought before she scoffed and stood up as she said, "You're such a geek 'Yoga, I'm going to bed goodnight."

"Hey, I'm not a geek and you could do this too if you would actually try," Ryoga said, "I mean out of all those times I've seen you fight… you always seem to be able to understand your opponent's moves in an instant," he paused, "you know I bet your pretty smart your just not using it or your being taught wrong."

Ranma turned around and had a slight grin on her face from hearing Ryoga compliment her like that, "What do ya mean? I've always been pretty dumb at this kind of stuff?" She asked.

"Come here," Ryoga said, and watched her walk back over and sit back down next to him then he pointed to a problem, "Look try and do this one," he said.

Ranma then took his pencil and started focusing on the problem that was 2x+2=6, "I-I don't know what to do… this doesn't make any sense… I mean why would they put letters in math, huh?" She asked as she looked up at him while rubbing her temple.

Ryoga shook his head, "The letters are variables, this problem isn't really that hard… you just get the 'x' by itself so you would subtract the two first which leaves you…"

Ryoga kept talk but Ranma didn't understand a word that he was saying at all. When he finished explaining it to her he looked at her and noticed the dazed and lost expression on her face,"Did you understand any of that... at all?" he asked.

Ranma rolled her eyes, "I did up until you started talking gibberish…"

Ryoga sighed before he saying, "look… think of it like this you have to hit a guy six times to put him down, and you have already hit him two times, so that leaves you with four hit's left right?"

Ranma seemed to roll that around in her head before saying, "Yeah," then something clicked, "wait I think I do understand it a little better now if I do that. So, I subtract the two from the six first then do what you were saying… about having to divide the two on both sides…" she trailed off as she began to think then she snapped her fingers, "I got it I would hit him four times… so the 'x' equals two right?"

Ryoga smiled at her, "Right, see I told you, you were smart," he said, "and I knew you could do it," as he playfully nudged her.

Ranma blushed when he said that and it made her stomach start feeling funny almost like someone had just dumped a bucket of butterflies into it, "T-thanks Yoga, and thanks for earlier today too…"

"Ahh, don't mention it," Ryoga said as he closed his notebook, "it's getting pretty late too why don't we go to bed?"

Ranma nodded her head then she stood up and started walking up the stairs with Ryoga right behind her. She had Miss. P still clutched in one arm as she opened the door to the guest room and immediately felt something wrap around Miss. P and yank her out of her arms followed by some maniacal laughter.

Ranma looked up to see Kodachi standing there in a green leotard with one arm at her side with a ribbon in it and the other one holding Miss. P.

Kodachi was staring at it with quizzical eyes for a second before laughing, "Ho, ho, ho, ho," Kodachi then turned to face Ranma and continued, "I haven't had a stuffed animal since I was a little girl, and this just proves that you are not fit for my Ranma-sama," she said right before she threw Miss. P, in the air and used her ribbon to slice it up into tiny little bits.

Ranma's eyes went wide with horror as she ran over to the pieces of cotton and fluff that were laying on the ground. She knelt down beside it and was so worried about her stuffed animal that her eyes began to grow moist from seeing it completely destroyed. Ranma was so focused on the mess on the ground to see or even notice what was happening behind her.

Ryoga who was on Ranma heels had practically seen everything that had happened and noticed that Kodachi was about to attack Ranma as she ran over to the ripped-up cotton mess on the ground. He knew he had to act fast he did not want to see Ranma get injured like she did last time, so he ran over and caught the ribbon that Kodachi lashed out in that direction only to have her let go of it and almost exploded in his face.

"You are that peasant boy from the mall, why do you stand in my way this harlot has done _something_ to drive away my Ranma-darling. I haven't seen him in over a month," Kodachi exclaimed, as she pulled out some pins and pushed a button then spikes seemed to shoot out of them.

Ryoga did not want to hurt a girl he just couldn't do that, and the only reason he did it last time was to protect Ranma when she was seriously injured, so clenched his fists before he proclaimed, "Cause she's my girlfriend and she would never want to date Ranma in the first place! That's her damn brother for crying out loud!"

Ranma got shocked from her little spell as she heard Ryoga say those words and turned around to see Ryoga standing guard in front of her facing Kodachi, ' _Did he really just say that… what the hell is he thinking..._ ' She thought before blushing profusely and immediately shooting up to her feet.

She wanted to say something but she didn't know what to say at all in this case. She didn't know if she should play along with it or scream that he was lying, but luckily before she even got a chance to make up her mind Ryoga gently pulled her in close. All but stopping her thought process.

Ryoga quietly whispered in her ear, "Just go along with it if she thinks we're together then she'll probably leave you alone and I don't want to hurt her again,"

Ranma relaxed some and nodded her head, ' _t-that makes sense, but I don't think it's gonna work Kodachi is just as crazy as Kuno…'_ she thought as she slowly wrapped herself around Ryoga's arm and said to Kodachi, "H-he's right Kodachi, this is my d-darling Ryoga-kun… and I have no interest in Ranma…"

Ryoga blushed from the contact of Ranma's body on his arm, but he had other things to worry about right now such as the psychotic idiot known as Kodachi Kuno standing in front of him. Ranma and Ryoga were both facing her and it looked like Kodachi was about to back off before she got back into a fighting stance and proclaimed, "I see so this red-haired hussy not only stole your heart but plays with her own brothers as well… I will not let this atrocity go on any longer!" as she threw out some pins towards the 'couple.' Ryoga instantly pushed Ranma back in order to protect her and took the blow himself.

The pins that hit Ryoga were nothing compared to the training that he had been through before so they merely just ripped his shirt where they hit upon his body and bounced off.

Ryoga quickly stood guard in front of Ranma and had to start dancing around her pins, ribbons, balls, and hoops that Kodachi threw at him. While he was also having to block any that would have hit Ranma.

Ranma couldn't do anything but sit there and watch as Ryoga protected her from the blows that should have been hitting her. It brought a smile to her face from not only what Ryoga was doing, but also from watching Kodachi scowl in frustration from not being able to get in a single blow. Ranma knew Ryoga could end the match any second, but she also knew that he was avoiding hitting her back because he didn't want to hurt Kodachi like he done so before.

Ryoga snarled as he jumped back to the side of the room in order to grab his umbrella then quickly got back in place in front of Ranma. Ryoga watched Kodachi stop attacking for a second as she yelled, "Ho, ho, ho, ho, I see you cannot hit a woman. This will be the end for you peasant-boy!" right before she threw out a bouquet of flowers.

Ranma watched the flowers fly through the air and knew that they had to be laced with some sort of paralyzing or knockout powder and she didn't know what would happen if Ryoga went down so she screamed, "Ryoga don't let those get near you!" and watched as Ryoga glanced at her for only a second before using his umbrella like a baseball bat and sending flowers back in Kodachi's direction.

Kodachi could only watch as her flowers come flying back in her direction at breakneck speed. She didn't have any time to react as they hit her in the face and quickly exploded sending her into unconsciousness as she fell on the floor.

Ranma sighed in relief that Kodachi was put down. She then got to her feet walk over to Ryoga who was panting for air while he laid his umbrella down against the wall, "Are you alright?" she asked.

Ryoga turned around and stared at her for a second before smiling, "I'm fine and I should be asking you that…"

Ranma narrowed her eyes at him as she looked at the front of his shirt which was torn and he had some scratches where the pins had hit him. When she saw that he was okay she scoffed as she said, "I'm fine…" right before her eyes laid back on the mound of cotton on the ground. She immediately ran back over and picked some of the cotton up in her hands, "No… Miss. P…" she whispered barely loud enough for Ryoga to hear her.

Ryoga walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder as she asked, "Why did you care so much about that thing anyway?"

Ranma turned and glared at him for a second with watery eyes before she forced the tears away as she said, "Uhh… I don't know I think it was something left over from when I went super girly right after I took the pill… I just couldn't keep my hands off the damn thing… I-I don't know why… guess it doesn't matter anymore though she's ruined…" she trailed off as she turned to look back at the mess and started sniffling a bit.

"If it means that much to you I'm sure you can get anoth-" Ryoga said before being cut off as everyone else in the household came running in.

Nodoka ran in and took one look at Kodachi as she thought, ' _Well, I'm glad I didn't tell Ranma I don't want Ryoga sleeping in her room anymore…'_ right before she ran up to Ranma and knelt down asking if Ranma was okay. Ranma nodded her head and started telling her what happened as the rest of the household started asking Ryoga questions.

Akane was furious when her eyes laid on the unconscious form of Kodachi slumped on the ground. Akane had been wanting to get revenge on Kodachi for what she had done to Ranma at the mall when she had only stepped away for a second to go buy the picture frame, but she was pulled out of her little anger spell when she heard her sister Nabiki say, "Akane, help me grab her I've been waiting for a chance to do this,"

Ranma and Akane both said, "Do what?" which were the thoughts of everyone else in the room as well.

Nabiki smirked as she said, "Well, I borrowed a few packets from Shampoo after the locker room fiasco as well as some of that waterproof soap, so, let's see how Kodachi likes being stuck in a cursed form of her own for a day or two…"

Ranma paled as she asked, "What curse are you gonna give her?"

Nabiki smiled as she said, "I thought about it for a while and I was thinking about a few of them, but I think the best one would be the spring of drowned boy. Who knows she might just come to realized that her Ranma-darling and you are the same person,"

Ranma nodded her head, "At least she's staying human. I mean I don't want her to end up dead somewhere," Ranma said as she watched Akane walk over and help Nabiki pick Kodachi up as they carried her out of her room.

"Well, now that the excitement is over and has already been dealt with I'm going to go back to bed," Soun said.

Kasumi nodded her head in agreement. She needed to get up early and get started on breakfast so she said, "Have a good night you two, and thanks for keeping Ranma-chan safe Ryoga-kun," she then walked out of the room.

Nodoka kissed Ranma on her forehead as she said, "I'm glad that your alright dear," then she winked at Ranma as she continued, "it's a good thing Ryoga-kun was here to save you, wasn't it?"

Ranma blushed slightly as she said, "Uhh… yeah sure," then she turned to Ryoga and nervously scratched her arm with her other hand and said, "Thanks for uhh… y'know,"

Ryoga nodded as he plopped on his futon, "Ahh, don't mention it, you would have done the same for me and that's what... friends do anyway… uhh… I'm beat though…"

"Right," Nodoka said, "I'll let you two get some sleep than good night dears," Nodoka finished and she started walking out of the room. She flipped off the lights before she closed the door leaving Ryoga laying on his futon and Ranma standing there watching her before she climbed into bed herself and would try drifting off to sleep without Miss. P to keep her company.

Akane was flabbergasted when she looked at the new form that Kodachi possessed, "Wow she… I mean he looks just like…"

"Tatewaki," Nabiki smirked. She had just gotten done washing Kodachi in the waterproof soap and had put a towel around Kodachi's lower half before calling her sister over in order to show her the results, "Yeah, they could almost be considered twins right now, wouldn't they?"

Akane nodded in agreement before she asked, "What are we going to do with… him?"

Nabiki then walked over to the wall and knocked on it as she said, "Sasuke I know you're here and that you've seen what we've done to your mistress or should I say master now." She snickered right before Sasuke appeared in front of her.

"Yes, I have mistress Tendo what else do you plan on doing with… him and he won't stay like this will he I don't think mistress Kodachi would like that very much," Sasuke replied sheepishly in a bow with his eyes facing the ground.

"No, we're done with her, but when she wakes up tell her that her Ranma-darling didn't like how she attacked his dear little sister, so, he used his sorcery to change her into a man... oh, and it should wear off in a few days or so," Nabiki said with a smirk.

Sasuke nodded, "Very well, I apologize for her actions… may I take him and leave now?"

Nabiki thought on it for a moment before nodding her head as she said, "Yes, that will be all, oh and I'll be sending Kuno-baby the bill for all the damages she caused as well,"

"Right," Sasuke said before he went over and the slung male-Kodachi over his shoulder and carried him out of the house. Sasuke took to the rooftops after he left the Tendo's in order to get back to the Kuno estate faster as well as not have anyone see Kodachi in such a state.

After Sasuke left Nabiki walked to her room and went to bed knowing that she had found some way to get back at Kodachi. Even if she didn't have the power to lock Kodachi away for good maybe this would make her see the truth. Akane walked into her room with a slight grin on her face. She thought what they did was a little evil but Kodachi did deserve it for trying to kill Ranma. She walked over, laid on her bed, and fell asleep feeling good knowing that she had helped get some payback.

* * *

Kaori was standing by the window looking out at the night sky in her hotel room that her father had rented for her while they were going to be staying in Nerima. Luckily her father always got a room to himself saying that he didn't want to _stay_ in a room with her for even a _moment_ let alone share a room with her for a night.

Kaori saw a little shooting star shoot across the sky right before she closed her eyes and made a wish, ' _I wish that I get to be happy someday…'_ she then opened her eyes and saw that the little light beam that had made the night sky seem magical was now gone, and she only hoped that her wish would come true but she knew that her life wasn't some fairy tale.

She knew that her life wasn't all that bad though even if her father hated her, and she hadn't seen her mother in over ten years. At least she had food delivered to her three times a day even if it was small, she had a place to sleep at night, and she was at least treated with some respect when it came to the maids and servants that her father had.

Kaori was brought out of her little musings when she heard the door to her room open and she immediately tensed up before she heard a soft feminine voice call out, "It's just me Kaori, you don't have to worry your father is already asleep,"

Kaori relaxed when she heard that voice, that voice brought her happiness, that voice could make her nightmare turn into a beautiful dream, and that voice was the one that her secret lover possessed. Kaori turned around and smiled at her as she said, "Kiyoko, you nearly gave me a heart attack… I-I thought you were my father,"

Kiyoko walked over to Kaori and playfully pouted as she said, "Ugh, I can't believe you would mistake me for that monster... I mean honestly, I am not getting fat, am I?"

Kaori smiled at Kiyoko as she walked into the moonlight that was peering throughout her dark room from the window seal and got a good look at her girlfriend who was wearing pink pajamas. It seemed her beauty was increased tenfold as the moonlight made the slight blue color in her long black hair that reached down to the middle of her back sheen with elegance, and her sparkling green eyes appeared to almost shine as the contrast between the two of them left Kaori nearly speechless as she squeaked out, "Y-you know I would never do such a thing you look nothing light him at all…"

Kiyoko walked up and wrapped Kaori in a hug as she said, "You know I didn't mean it like that…" she then got a look at Kaori's red cheek and scowled as she asked, "He didn't hit you again, did he?

Kaori tensed up, "N-no, no I'm fine really I just fell on the way home that's why my dress was all dirty when we got back."

Kiyoko didn't buy that at all but it was better to go along with it than bring that topic up, so she relented and nodded her head as she turned Kaori out and they both started looking up at the stars together, "The sky is really beautiful tonight… almost as beautiful as you are…" Kiyoko said as she lightly pecked Kaori on the cheek.

Kaori blushed and tears began to slightly well up in her eyes as she shook her head and said, "D-don't say that… I know I'm ugly and it's not fair for you to lie to me…"

Kiyoko sighed as she had been trying to get Kaori to see her own beauty, but it always ended the same way with Kaori saying that she was lying, and that if she wasn't ugly than her father wouldn't be saying all of those things. Kiyoko then released Kaori and took her hand. Kiyoko guided her over to a full-length mirror in the room and asked Kaori, "Tell me what you see,"

Kaori looked at the image of herself for a second before averting her eyes, "I saw me… standing beside a really attractive girl in pink pajamas."

Kiyoko shook her head before she walked up behind Kaori and placed her hands gently on the sides of Kaori's cheeks as she said, "No, that's not what I meant… do you see an ugly girl in the mirror?" She then turned Kaori's face towards the mirror and wasn't going to let her look away.

Kaori wanted to look away but couldn't so she stared at herself for a while before taking in her entire image for the first time in a long time and she had to agree with Kiyoko. She wasn't as hideous as her father said that she was, "No… I-I'm not ugly b-bu-"

She got that far before Kiyoko wrapped her up in a hug from behind and whispered in her ear, "Stop Kaori, let's stop there for today alright," she then guided Kaori over to the bed and they both laid down and snuggled up to one another as she continued, "I'm proud of you that was a big step, now how about you tell me about your day, huh?"

Kaori blushed as she nodded her head, "Thanks for that, and we didn't do much, to be honest… well, besides father trying to get me married off to Ranma,"

Kiyoko smiled as she asked, "So how was Ranma, is he handsome… you're not gonna leave me and go with him are you?"

Kaori giggled as she said, "No, no _s_ _he_ wasn't very handsome but _she_ was very beautiful, and you know I would never leave you even if I did get married off I would find some way to be with you."

Kiyoko looked at Kaori in confusion as she asked, "She… you mean Ranma is… a girl?"

Kiyoko saw Kaori smile and start giggling for a second before calming down and saying, "Yup, and I wish you could have been there the to see look on father's face it was priceless,"

Kiyoko did giggle at the mental image of Kenta realizing Ranma was a girl but it also puzzled her. She was sure that Ranma was a boy from the birth records that she had peeked at. She was also a little worried Kaori had said that she was beautiful, "You said she was beautiful… you don't like her, do you?"

Kaori grinned as she said, "Yeah, she was gorgeous with her beautiful long red hair and her shining bright blue eyes and she was really well endowed," Kaori did a playful cough before she continued, "but you have nothing to worry about I don't think she's into girls she's dating a boy named Ryoga…" she finished with a frown.

Kiyoko smiled as she was listening to Kaori talk but she frowned herself at the way she heard Kaori say Ryoga's name and the emotions play out on her face, "What's wrong I thought this would be a good thing… I mean your father can't expect you to marry another girl so you should be free, right?"

"No," Kaori said as she shook her head, "father changed the contract to have me marry that Ryoga boy just so Ranma can't have him..."

"Ugh, I can't believe him," Kiyoko said, "so he's trying to take away Ranma's boyfriend just to get back at his old sparring buddy from back in the day… your father really is an asshole," she paused as she leaned over and kissed Kaori on the forehead, "I don't know how you turned out so sweet your mother must have been a goddess or something."

Kaori blushed and nodded her head, "Yeah, he really is a jerk… and I don't know anything about my mother you know that…" she trailed off as she yawned, "oh, sorry I must be more tired than I thought, "

Kiyoko giggled before she said, "Don't be your father is having a meeting in the morning, so that means that we can _both_ sleep in here tonight,"

Kaori tensed up as she said, "No you can't what if fath-"

She only got that far before Kiyoko placed a finger over her lips and said, "If he does come in here then I'll just say we were having a little sleep over and he would never be the wiser… I mean he would never think that his most trustful maid and his only daughter are together,"

Kaori thought about it for a moment before nodding her head and said, "Okay… fine but if he does get mad don't blame me,"

Kiyoko said, "Never," with a beaming smile as she snuggled up to her girlfriend and they both fell asleep in each other's arms. Kaori had a smile on her face as she fell asleep. It seemed her wish was already coming true.

* * *

 **A/U: Okay, writing these longer chapters are a hassle and I want to update this story more often, so I'll probably try to cut the word count down to about 15k words per chapter from now on. I think it will make you all happier that you are getting more of this story a lot quicker and it will make me happier as well. Thanks for reading, and if you guy's and girl's really want me to keep up the longer chapters than leave it in a review and I'll try to do it.**

 **Also, I put up a poll on who Akane should end up with, or if she should even end up with anyone at all on my profile page. Go vote!**


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